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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  8712-4503 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notaa/Notaa  tachniquaa  at  bibliographiquaa 


Tha  Inatituta  haa  anampted  to  obtain  the  baat 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Featuraa  of  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographlcally  uniqua, 
which  may  alter  any  of  tha  imagea  in  tha 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  uaual  method  of  fil"ning,  are  checked  below. 


□    Coloured  covera/ 
Couvertura  de  couleur 


[~n    Covers  damaged/ 


D 


Couverture  endommagie 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaur^  et/ou  pellicula 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


La  titra  de  couverture  manque 

Coloured  mapa/ 

Cartea  gtegraphiquea  en  couleur 

Coloured  irik  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  dR  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plataa  and/or  illuatrationa/ 


D 
D 


D 


D 


Planchea  et/ou  illuatrationa  en  couleur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
RelM  avec  d'autraa  documents 


Tight  binding  may  cauae  shadows  or  distortion 
along  inteHor  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrie  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distoraion  !•  long  de  la  marge  Int^rieure 

Blank  leavea  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certainea  pages  blanches  ajouties 
lors  d'une  reatauration  apparaiaaant  dana  la  texte. 
maia.  lorsque  cela  itait  poaaible,  cea  pagea  n'ont 
paa  iti  fllmAes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  supplimentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exempiaire 
qu'il  lui  a  iti  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  ditails 
de  cet  exempiaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  imege  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  una 
modification  dans  la  mithode  normaie  de  filmaga 
sont  indiquis  ci-dassous. 


I      I    Coloured  pegea/ 


D 


Pagea  de  couleur 

Pcgee  damaged/ 
Pagea  endommagtes 

Pages  restored  and/oi 

Pages  restauriaa  et/ou  pellicul^es 

Pagea  discoloured,  stained  or  foxe< 
Pages  dicolories,  tacheties  ou  piquies 

Pagea  detached/ 
Pagea  ditach^es 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Quality  inigale  de  I'impression 


I — I  Pcgee  damaged/ 

I      I  Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 

rV]  Pagea  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 

I      I  Pagea  detached/ 

r^n  Showthrough/ 

I      I  Quality  of  print  varies/ 


y  I    Includes  supplementary  material/ 

^  '    Comprend  du  material  supplimentaire 


rn    Only  edition  available/ 


Seule  Edition  disponibie 

Pagea  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  ref timed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Las  pagea  totaiement  ou  partieilement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  iti  filmies  A  nouveau  de  fa^on  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqu*  ci-daaaoua. 

10X  14X  18X  22X 


y 


!2X 


16X 


20X 


26X 


30X 


24X 


28X 


u 

32X 


Th«  copy  filmsd  h«r«  haa  baan  raproducad  thanka 
to  tha  ganaroaity  of: 

Library 
Agriculture  Canada 


L'axamplaira  filmi  fut  raproduit  grAca  it 
giniroaiti  da: 

Bibliothdque 
Agriculture  Canada 


Tha  imagaa  appaaring  hara  ara  tha  baat  quality 
poaaibia  eonaidaring  tha  condition  and  lagibility 
of  tha  original  copy  and  in  kaaping  with  tha 
filming  contract  spacificationa. 


I.aa  imagaa  auivantaa  ont  tti  raproduitaa  svac  la 
plua  grand  soin.  eompta  tanu  da  la  condition  at 
da  la  nattati  da  l'axamplaira  filmA,  at  an 
eonformiti  avac  laa  conditiona  du  contrat  da 
filmaga. 


Original  copiaa  in  printad  papar  covars  ara  filmad 
baginning  with  tha  front  covar  and  anding  on 
tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
sion,  or  tha  back  covar  whan  appropriata.  All 
othar  original  copiaa  ara  filmad  baginning  on  tha 
firat  paga  with  a  printad  or  illuatratad  impraa- 
aion.  and  ending  on  tha  laat  paga  with  a  printad 
or  illuatratad  impraaalon. 


Tha  laat  racordad  frama  on  aach  microficha 
shall  contain  tha  symbol  --»^(maaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  tha  symbol  V  (moaning  "END"), 
whichavar  appliaa. 


Laa  axamplairaa  originaux  dont  la  couvartura  an 
papiar  aat  imprimte  sont  filmte  an  commandant 
par  la  pramiar  plat  at  an  tarminant  soJit  par  la 
damiira  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprainta 
d'Impraasion  ou  d'illuatration.  soit  par  la  sacond 
plat.  aa4on  la  caa.  Toua  laa  autraa  axamplairaa 
originaux  sont  fllmte  an  commanpant  par  la 
pramlAra  paga  qui  comporta  una  amprairta 
d'Impraaaion  ou  d'illuatration  at  an  tarminant  par 
la  damiira  paga  qui  comporta  una  talla 
amprainta. 

Un  daa  symbolaa  sulvants  apparaitra  sur  la 
damiAra  imaga  da  chaqua  microficha,  salon  la 
caa:  la  symbola  — »  signifia  "A  SUIVRE ',  la 
symboia  V  signifia  "FIN". 


Mapa.  plataa.  charts,  ate,  may  ba  filmad  at 
diffarant  raduction  ratioa.  Thoaa  too  larga  to  ba 
antlraiy  includod  in  on*  axpoaura  ara  filmad 
baginning  in  tha  uppar  laft  hand  comar.  laft  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  aa  many  framaa  aa 
raquirad.  Tha  following  diagrama  iiluatrata  tha 
mathod: 


Laa  cartaa,  pianchaa.  tablaaux,  ate,  pauvant  dtra 
filmte  A  daa  taux  da  rMuction  diff«rants. 
Loraqua  la  documant  aat  trop  grand  pour  itra 
raproduit  it  un  saul  clich*.  il  aat  film*  i  partir 
da  I'angla  aup4riaur  gaucha.  da  gaucha  i  droita. 
at  da  haut  an  baa.  an  pranant  la  nombra 
d'Imagaa  nteaaaaira.  Laa  diagrammas  suivants 
illustrant  la  m^thoda. 


1 

2 

3 

1  2  3 

4  5  6 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


BEING    THE    EXPERIENCE    OF    A    NUMBER    OF    PRACTICAL- 
WRITERS,  IN   A   CLEAR   AND   CONDENSED    FORM. 


UPON   THE 


MANAGEMENT  OP  A  SINGLE  MILCH  COW. 


NEW,    ENLAROi  li     EDITIONc 


ILLUSTRATKD. 


NEW    YORK: 

ORAKGE  JUDD  COMPAITy, 

1000 


Entered,  accoramg  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1888,  by  the 

ORANGE    JUDD    CO., 

In  the  OfQce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 

Abaorbents  In  the  Stable 


it 


,  ,.  „  .14,17,19, 

-5,  55,  75,  80,  94,99,127 

Accounts,  Dr.  and  Cr.. . . .n,  ai,  38,  45, 

Ailments ^^Wmul 

Alfalfa  Clover. ^'^^'^}^ 

»  ».  u  1         Cut  BIX  times 98 

Artichokes,  Jerusalem 64-77 

;•  Feeding ""m  15 

"  Nutritive  Value  of.V.75',  76 

Barley  as  an  Autumn  Crop 107 

Barn—See  Stable....         ^ "' 

Barre  System  of  Feeding." '.'.'.'..'. '. '. ',  105 

"Utter ...  lA 

Buying  Feed .'  .*  'J mli 

Brewer's  Grains. ...  o  'im  \^ 

Calf,  Care  and  DispoVaVof  Vbe.'.  S'  sf 

Po«        ,27, 28,  57,  62,  71,  89,' 119 

Rations  for 21  ax 

Scourain '^ 

Teaching  to  Drliik  '  * '  12'  22  2« 
Clover,  White  and  Red,  coriiDared  104 
Corn  (indlan)  for  Fodder.  12,^7, 20  25 

Compost  Heap ^' ^*' It' S? 

Cow,  Care  at  Calving  Tim4!*2i*  27  41 
ranH„„  60, 72.  83,  87.' rJ 

Sryt!/off:.v.-.v.v.v.v'Sr7'IJ 

Fat  at  Calving "   no  1  u 

General  Treatment. .  .9, 17,  3o'  37, 
TT       ^    «  ,  60, 96, 98, 119 

HowtoSelecta .  sn 

Keptin  the  North....!..  .'"9 

Kept  in  New  York 78.  99  "12.S 

KeptintheSuuth.::..     '     '   is 
Kept  In  the  Eastern  States. *.'.'. .35 

TT    *  I    *v    ,.,  92,  im,  110 

Kept  in  the  Town '.108  130 

Kept  in  Ohio '   53 

Kept  in  Pennsylvania.  ..'.*.'.  16.  64 

Kept  in  Indiana 110 

Kept  on  Cape  Cod 00 

Kept  in  California. ...      97 

Kept  in  Connecticut  . no 

Points  of  a  Good. . .  9 

S*"°nf /o«^ 29,'  Sb;  '37,  43 

Stabled  In  Town..  ino 

"   YieldofMilk.l5,42,57.7iil4  1.^ 
Cow  Doctors ...  1 "  •.  «^  n^,  is^ 

Diseases— See  Aliments! 

DrainingLand *'"ios 

Drouth,  Effects  of,  on  Milk ao 

Dry  Fodder  for  Winter?.       " '  *    af  lS 
D.ingHeap,the.....  .•;::•  "  ^^'j^ 

Ellsworth^s,  System  of  Feedln<^ ' '  "105 
Exercise,  Need  of. , .  "  sV "  '^ 
Pasteninff  for  the  Stnhio ' 


it 

<< 
II 

It 


It 
It 

II 
!• 
il 
l( 
II 
II 
<l 

ii 

II 

« 


Ground  Feed,  Oats  and  Peas ,0 

Hay  Tea.:::   30,82,100 

Hungarian  Grass: ::.:.'  1^ 

Land,  Area  Required...  9ii*Vf5"99^ 
^  64-65  78,  82,  93,  99  1&,  llWlf'iS 
Land,  None  Absolutely  Required  '  130 

S'«P«ng  to  the  South  aud  East  12s 
Leaves  as  Bedding la  S? 

,.    T     ,,      „       Weeds ino 

Mllkiig"'°^'*™"^-"'H58.-9bVl30 

::   fc%t''i^?-'^'^^y'^2!K'io4 

Milk-Pan    '^'*''^'''^'"S--2T.  41,  116 

Pa"  turitToIi"'  '''  «n  Absorb^nV. : : ' '  *  80 

PaSring."  ::••.'.•. ^'^^,87 

Peas,  Canada  Field.'.'.  .*. '  m 

'^     Cow ••  • ™ 

Pea-Vine  Hay....        ^ 

Pearl  Millet '. ai'iViia 

P.|?8  to  Work  Over  Mannr'e'.'  .  '  94'  12? 

^to  Consume  Sour  Milk    fifi  to  ^ 

Profits  of  Keeping  One  Cow!.  11 '^'^ 

Rotation '"'eaJ'&'g'? 

^^''SS^% '^^^M 

Root  Crops,  Artichokes 64'  70  75 

9t"°t8 20,43 

Mangels 10 

Parsnips...  .     3^ 

Root  Cellar.  ^"™.*r ^'.g 

Salting ]^ 

Sea- Weed  as  an  Absorbent: .".' 


<i 

II 
II 


II 
Ii 
II 


Shade  in  the  Yard. 

Soiling  Crops  ., .     oV 

'*  «i      Air.ir. *^» 


109 

63 


Feeding,  System  of. .  .18, 27;  29,'37,  4% 

Fertilizers, Commercial. 47, 59  m  ifs 
Food.  Am't  Required  for  a  Yea"l6,  M 

Garget  anflamed  Uddert  ^^.".^ " "  89 '  iS 

Ground  Feed,  Bran •'.'.".•.•.•37,87 

Cotton-seed  Oil  Cakn 
Meai 


II 
II 
Ii 
II 
II 
11 
II 
II 
II 


<i 

il 

II 

ii 

<i 

11 

II 

« 

« 

i( 

II 


94 
...  81 

Alfalfa......;."""' ^'^ 

Artichokes ::::"  64 

Cabbages j»  Q<t 

Canada  Peas...    '       'm 

Cow  Peas :."*"  30 

Golden  Millet.. . '  "25  31 
Hungarian  Grass.  :92. 108 

Minnesota  Corn 08 

Mixed  Grasses.,  .'"l03 
Oats  and  Peas. ..".:::!  93 


Peas. 


11 


rv) 


.ComMeal. 


.29,  44,  87 
.37,  57,  59 


Stables  PIans.^etc".;:'."i6:*l7,'25^S  4? 

Stable-Tie....  "'Ss 

Tethering....   ., V.W  J^ 

W^'vi^^j"'*!  Manure::.':;:  "*'  JS 

?f  ?^tn  ^^'"'n^tion  of. ;.'^;}g 


'syo2^ 


PUBLISHERS'    ANNOUNCEMENT. 


There  is  a  strong  tendency  in  the  American  population  to 
collect  in  cities  and  villages.  This  gregarious  movement  is 
strikingly  illustrated  by  the  census  reports,  which  show  a  more 
or  less  rapid  increase  of  village  and  city  population,  while  that  of 
many  rural  districts  in  the  older  States  is  actually  diminishing. 
The  family  cow  is  a  usual,  if  not  indispensable,  part  of  the  do- 
mestic outfit  of  the  village  or  suburban  dweller,  hence  the  fact 
referred  to  above  has  contributed  to  increase  the  call  for  such 
a  work  as  this.  The  book  embraces  the  ideas  and  experience 
of  such  able  writers  as  Professor  Slade,  of  Harvard  College, 
Professor  Henry  E.  Alvord,  now  of  Amherst  Agricultural  Col- 
lege, and  others  not  less  practical,  if  less  known  to  the  public. 
The  book  will  be  found  useful  not  only  to  those  who  keep  but 
one  cow,  but  many  of  its  suggestions  are  equally  applicable  to 
those  who  make  dairying  a  business. 

The  topics  treated  are  only  those  legitimately  connected  with 
the  subject,  yet  they  cover  a  wide  field,  and  will  prove  of  great 
interest  to  all  occupied  in  the  culture  of  the  soil,  while  as  a 
handbook  and  guide  to  those  who  keep  one  or  more  family  cows 
it  must  be  of  almost  daily  practical  use.  The  prominent  sub- 
jects, such  as  soiling,  stabling,  care  of  manure,  the  tillage  of 
the  soil,  the  cultivation  of  various  crops,  care  of  the  cow  and 
of  the  calf,  are  each  treated  in  detail,  and  yet  there  is  so  great 
a  variety  and  such  genuine  personal  experience  and  sincere 
conviction  on  the  part  of  each  writer,  that  his  or  her  way  is 
the  best  way — as  indeed  it  may  be,  under  the  circumstances — 
that  there  is  little  or  nothing  of  sameness  or  repetition  in  the 
book,  but  the  reader's  interest  is  sustained  to  the  last. 


IKTRODUCTION. 

Evepr  farmer  is  ordinarily  supposed  to  keep  several  cows,  and 
there  is  no  reason  why  most  families  in  villages  and  verv  many 
in  cities  should  not  possess  at  least  one.    Good  milk  'affords 
the  best  of  nourishment  for  young  children,  and  goes  a  long  way 
m  saving  butchers'  bills,  and  in  the  preparation  of  palatable  nour- 
ishing  food  of  many  varieties.    Two  to  five  families,  according  to 
age  and  number,  can  readily  unite  in  having  one  cow  kept,  divid- 
mg  the  milk  and  expenses,  and  thus  always  have  good,  pure, 
rich  milk  at  very  moderate  cost.    The  suitable  refuse  from  the 
kitchens  of  three  or  four  families  would  very  much  reduce  the 
cost  of  purchased  food.      In  rural  viKages,  summer  pasturage 
can  be  obtained  near  at  hand,  which,  with  a  daily  feed  of  good 
meal  will  furnish  a  large  supply  of  rich  milk  at  a  low  cost     A 
boy  can  be  secuied  at  a  small  price  to  drive  the  cow  to  the  pasture 
in  the  morning,  and  return  her  at  nighi  to  the  stable.    A  stable  or 
Thirr     TT  ^",«^^^^°«<i  «t  a  trifling  rent,  and  be  kept  clean. 
There  are  plenty  of  gardeners  or  farmers  who  will  gladly  take  the 

toZ^^Z"  ''''  '^T^^  *^''  '"  ''''^'''''  "f  ^"^S««'  manufacturing 
towns,  etc.,  can,  by  arrangements  like  the  above,  secure  an  abund- 
ant  supply  of  pure,  rich,  fresh,  healthful  milk  at  less  than  three 
cents  per  quart,  and  at  the  same  time  add  greatly  to  their  home 
comforts  and  preserve  the  health  if  not  the  lives  of  their  little  ones 

In  February,  1880,  the  publishers  of  this  volume  offered  prizes 
for  three  essays  on  keeping  one  cow,  indicating  at  the  same  time 
their  scope.  Some  extracts  from  the  explanatory  remarks  accom- 
panying this  offer  may  fitly  outline  an  introduction  to  the  work 

The  number  of  persons  who  possess  but  one  cow  is  far  larger 
than  those  who  have  ten  or  more.     No  doubt  many  others 
living  outs.de  of  closely  built  cities,  would  gladly  lessen  th^ 
cost  of  supportmg  their  families,  and  at  the  same  time  add  to 

InoLT""  ?1'  """'^  '^"'^  ^"^""'''  ^y  ^^^P'^'S  a  cow,  did  they 
^now  how  to  keep  one.  There  is  a  general  notion  that  keeping  a 
cow  requires  a  pasture.    If  a  pasture  is  not  necessary,  they  do  not 

leariThnrt  \"  ^fi  '^^^  ""^"^""^  "^^^    ^^^^^^^^^  ^"^  farmers 
n  ill         I'''^  u''^'  ^'  ^  P"'*  «f  '^^"^^^^  ^'''^  management,  or 
m  books  on  the  subject.    There  are  books  on  cows,  but  none  on 
^vii; 


4  -it 


VIU 


INTRODUOTIOK. 


one  cow.  It  is  not  a  question  of  dairy  farming,  but  of  dairy  gaf- 
dening.  The  offer  was  made  to  elicit  information  to  enable  one 
to  keep  P,  single  cow  with  the  best  possible  results.  The  main 
points  to  be  considered  are  :  the  stabling  or  housing  of  the  cow ; 
tlie  yard  room  she  requires,  and  the  storage  or  disposal  of  her  ma- 
nure ;  the  least  area  of  land  that  can  be  safely  set  apart  for  the 
support  of  the  cow,  and  how  can  that  land  be  best  managed.  It 
is  to  be  assumed  that  the  land  will  be  made  to  produce  all  that  it 
will  profitably  yield,  which  will  brmg  up  the  question  of  manure 
and  fertilizers,  of  course  considering  that  produced  by  the  cow 
herself.  "What  proportion  of  the  produce  of  the  land  is  to  be 
cured  for  winter?  How  much  food  must  be  bought,  and  what? 
How  is  the  cow  to  be  fed,  and  in  every  respect  how  treated  so  as 
to  give  the  best  returns  to  her  owner  ?  What  sliould  be  done  at 
calving  time  and  afterwards  ?  milking,  etc.  In  short,  the  prob- 
lem is — given  a  good  cow,  how  to  get  the  best  possible  returns 
from  the  least  possible  portion  of  the  land  through  the  agency  of 
the  cow. 

This,  we  think,  is  satisfactorily  answered,  if  not  by  any  one 
writer,  certamly  by  several  combined. 

We  place  as  a  frontispiece  the  portrait  of  a  most  famous  and 
excellent  cow — not  so  much  for  her  beauty  or  on  account  of  her 
breed,  but  as  a  model  of  a  dairy  cow,  and  one  which  may  be  car- 
ried in  the  mind  when  purchasing. 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


THE  FAMILY  COW  AT  THE  NORTH. 

BT  MRS.   O.   BOURINOT,   OTTAWA,   CANADA. 

She'8  broad  in  her  hips  and  long  In  her  rump 
A  6  raight  and  flat  hack  without  ever  a  hump 
She  8  wide  In  her  lips  and  calm  In  her  eyea 
She  8  fine  In  her  shoulders  and  thin  In  her  ihlghs 
She  8  sleight  In  her  neck  and  small  In  her  tall 
She  8  wide  in  her  breast  and  good  at  the  pail ' 
She  8  fine  In  her  bone  and  silky  of  skin 
She's  a  grazier  without  and  a  butcher  wJtbJn. 

rru  — MlLBtTBH. 

oest  results,  that  certain  rules  be  followed  with  regard   m  fh! 
treatment  the  cow  receives.    She  must  be  fed  and  milS  .         , 
times  be  kept  thoroughly  clean,  hat  p ttTof  S  jraid 

water,andherfood  composed  of  thosesublncVthat^mkeep her 
always  m  good  condition,  do  away  with  the  milk  hill  r  ^  "^i 

grocers  account  and  contribute  gLtl^^'het  It^  'ndwln 

^aifoi^ToiVprrt^  ^:;t^'Z^  -r  '-^ 

best  biil  of  fare  for  "DaiLy"  T^ ClZTlZtl'.l'l 
YARD,  STABLE,  AND  RATIONS 

ex^tst  bf  alt f±  [Tf::X^  f- ^^P-/'  says  be 
flfteeoth  f.m  half  an  acre  of  ^oZX:r::^': ^.^^^ 


'4 


!  f 


10 


KEEPINO    ONE   COW. 


better  not  attempt  it,  but  keep  bis  half  aero  to  raise  vegetables 
and  fruit,  btiying  tbe  food  required  to  keep  bis  cow.  A  cow  can  be 
made  very  profitable  if  kept  in  tbe  following  way ;  First,  as  to  tbe 
accommodation  required,  a  yard  fifteen  feet  l)y  fifteen,  and  a  8tal)lo 
or  cow-sbed  arranged  as  in  tbe  following  plan.  A,  manure  siied  ; 
n,  bin  for  dried  earth ;  C,  cow  ;  J),  store-room  ;  E,  window  for  i)Ut. 
ting  in  bay ;  F,  door ,  G,  trap  to  loft;  //,  feeding  trougb.  Have  ber 
food  provided  as  follows:   into  a  common  pail  put  one  quart 


Fig.  1.— 8TABLB  AND  YA.BD. 

of  provender  ("  provender "  is  oats  and  peas  ground  together, 
and  can  be  purchased  at  anj  feed  store),  one-quarter  pound  of  oil- 
cake, then  fill  the  pail  nearly  full  of  bran  and  pour  boiling  water 
over  the  whole ;  stir  well  with  a  stick,  and  put  it  away  covered  with 
an  old  bit  of  carpet  until  feeding  time ;  give  ber  that  mess  twice  a 
day.  Have  her  dinner  from  June  to  November  consist  of  grass  or 
fodder  cut  and  brought  in  twice  a  week  by  some  farmer  or  market 
gardener  in  exchange  for  ber  manure  and  sour  milk.  In  Montreal, 
grass  and  fodder  are  brought  to  market  by  the  "  Habatants,"  and 
sold  in  bundles.  As  to  quantity,  a  good  big  armful  will  be 
sufficient,  and  it  is  more  healthful  for  the  cow  if  it  is  a  little 
wilted.  In  the  winter  hay  and  mangels  are  to  be  fed  in  place  of 
the  grass  and  fodder.  She  should  also  have  salt  where  she  can 
take  a  lick  when  so  minded,  and  fresh  water  three  times  a  day. 
The  yard  should  be  kept  clean  by  scraping  up  the  manure  every 
morning  into  the  little  shed  at  tbe  end  of  the  stable. 

The  following  table  shows  the  food  required  to  keep  one  cow 
through  the  entire  year : 

Hay,  tbe  best,  two  tons,  at  $10  per  ton 120.00 

200  pounds  of  Oil-cake,  at  U  per  100  pounds  ».W 

800  pounds  of  Provender,  at  $1  per  100  pounds »•  w 

Half  aton  of  Bran,  at  $12  per  ton o^ 

One  ton  of  Mangels :    ^"^ 


\ 


KEEPING  ONE  COW.  Xl 

Your  cow  will  require  the  following  "trousseau  ": 
One  nvo-gullon  stone  chum „  „, 

One  milk  [mil  and  Htmhter  ^"Sx 

One  butter  bowl  (woodon). 5x 

One  paddlcund  i)rliit....  ^ 

Two  wooden  puilH  for  feed ** 

One  curd 40 

.25 

Cost  of  a  f?ood  cow *4nm 

Interest  at  6  per  cent ...........*.'.'.'.'.'  * '  *  '^|xS 

auar^allf  ""'^  famHy  will  take  from  a  milkman  at  least  one 

.  I'lV'T  ^'''''  ''''^  "''^^  "^"^  "«'  '^^^'^ge  fl^e  pounds  of  butter 

luT,iT     ?^T^'^"'  ''"^'  '^^  twenty-five  cents  per  poun' 
that  I  40  (weeks)  x  5  (pounds),  x  26  (cents),  equals  50  (doUa^       ' 
So  the  account  stands  thus  :  v«""»ra;. 

Butter 

Milk.;.:::;::::: ^oo 

^2^ 

Cost  of  food  for  one  year jui7  nf>  i     *'^^ ' ^ 

Interest  on  cow  and  trousseau  . . . ; 4  fio  f       50.69 

Profit '^^>   . 

$28.51 

LAND  AND  CROPS. 

I  have  found  that  two  acres  of  land  is  the  least  possible  area 
hat  W.11  provide  cow-food  for  the  entire  year,  and  that  should  be 
1  vided  thus :  One  acre  for  buy,  the  other  for  fodder  and  manlis 
I  you  have  no  land  already  seeded  down,  plow  up  your  aTre  sow 
clover  and  timothy,  six  pounds,  of  each.  In  May,  when  the  grasT 
has  fairly  started  top-dress  it  with  two  bushels  of  land  plaSer 
If  you  can  apply  it  just  before  a  rainit  is  the  best  time.  Thefirst' 
year  you  will  have  all  clover  hay,  and  it  must  be  cut  before  the 

tZh  and  TT'"': '  ^  "^*  ^"* '''''  ^°«"^'^'  ^he  stalks  become 
ough  and  woody,  and  are  wasted  by  the  cow.    The  second  year 

If  top-dreseed  in  the  fall  with  the  manure  collected  durinrth^ 
summer  you  will  have  a  fine  crop  of  timothy,  and  if  the  land 
Zllf  f  f. -y^h-g  you  can  cut  hay  from  it'for  thr  e  year^by 
gmng  It  a  little  manure  every  fall.  As  early  as  the  ground  wS 
admi  sow  some  peas  and  oats;  one  bushel  of  each  wm  phn 
one  third  of  an  acre.    Peas  do  well  on  old  sod,  and  are  the  bes 

rr:^f,f^?r.!^/--^    {-bout  six  we;kByou  Vn^com! 
.  ..ut^g  X.  .ui  luuuer,  and  it  should  give  the  cow  two  good 


«i 


n 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


me;il8  a  day  until  corn  comes  in.  L.  B.  ArnoUl,  in  "AmericAfl 
Dairying,"  says  of  corn  :  "  When  too  thickly  planted  its  stems  and 
leaves  are  soft  and  pale,  its  juices  thin  and  poor.  If  sown  thin  or 
in  drills,  so  tliut  the  air  and  light  and  heat  of  the  sun  can  reach  it, 
and  not  fed  until  nearly  its  full  size,  it  is  a  valuable  soiling  plant." 
Now  Mr.  Warini;,  in  "  Farming  for  Profit,"  says :  "  It  is  a  common 
mistake  when  the  con  is  planted  in  drills  to  put  in  so  little  soed 
that  the  stalks  grow  l:irge  and  strong,  when  they  are  neglected  by 
the  cattle,  the  leaves  only  being  consumed.  There  should  be  forty 
grains  at  least  to  the  foot  of  row.,  which  will  take  froai  four  to  six 
bushels  to  the  acre,  b.it  tlie  result  will  fully  justify  the  outlay,  as 
the  corn  standing  so  close  in  the  row  will  grow  fine  and  thick." 
My  experience  tells  me  that  Mr.  Waring  is  right ;  any  way,  my 
cow  will  not  eat  tlie  coarse  stalks  which  will  grow  when  the  corn 
is  planted  too  tuin. 

The  one-third  acre  reserved  for  mangels,  must  be  the  perfection 
of  richness,  well  drained,  and  manured.  If  the  soil  is  deep,  you 
can  plant  them  on  the  flat,  but  if  the  soil  is  shallow,  plant  them  on 
ridges,  the  ridges  thirty  inches  apart  (I  always  plant  them  in  that 
way) ;  then  thin  out  the  plants  to  fifteen  inches  apart.  Ten  to 
twelve  hundred  bushels  may  be  grown  on  an  acre,  but  the  ground 
must  be  properly  prepared.  In  storing  them,  they  require  to  be 
very  carefully  handled,  as  t'.ie  least  bruise  hastens  decay,  and  we 
want  to  keep  them  fresh  and  good  until  April,  when  our  cow 
ought  to  give  us  a  calf. 


WEANING   THE   CALF. 

I  thought  I  had  tried  almost  everything  relating  to  the  care  of 
cows,  but  when  I  undertook  to  wean  a  five-weeks'-old  calf,  I  found 
my  education  in  that  respect  sadly  neglected.  I  asked  a  farmer's 
wife  how  I  was  to  manage.  "Oli,"  she  said,  "just  dipyourfingers 
in  the  milk,  and  let  the  calf  suck  them  a  lew  times,  and  it  will 
soon  learn  to  put  its  nose  in  the  pail  and  drink."  It  sounded 
simple  enough,  so  I  took  my  pail  and  started  for  the  barn,  where 
t aat  wrei  died  animal  slopped  me  all  over  with  milk,  bunted  me 
round  and  round  the  pen,  until  I  was  black  and  blue,  sucked  the 
skin  off  my  finger,  and  wouldn't  drink.  After  trying  at  intervals 
for  two  days,  the  calf  was  getting  thin,  and  so  was  I.  In  despair, 
I  left  the  pail  of  milk,  giving  that  calf  a  few  words  of  wholesome 
advice.  When  I  went  back  two  hours  after  the  calf  was  standin" 
over  the  empty  pail,  with  an  expression  on  its  face,  that  I  trans- 
lated into  an  inquiry,  as  to  why  I  hadn't  left  that  pad  there  before. 


I 


KEEPING   OJfE   COW.  ^3 

to  drink.*    When  it  is  a  weeto  ,  Z      ""'  '"'"^  '^'"  '"O"  '<^'"-» 
cake,  skim-mUk  and  molLI     T,^^  «mmence  feeding  witl,  oil- 

I  put  one  taMespoonfd  oTouieake  an?     '  T""'""""  P""-^"  <^»». 
can  With  boiling  water  and  set  ff"  .f"' ™"'™"=^> «"  "P  "•« 
cooked.    That  quantity  w°i?  be  it,    ,1  "'"^'o™""'"  thorongl.ly 
withskim-milk.^  The  next  week  l:":rr  '"^'"«"'«y.  "-U 
and  the  next  week  twice  thlt     T  ,1   '  f"  .''"""'"y «  each  meal, 
old,  and  the  butcher  on4,  t,  w™  v.       "•"  "'™  "''  '""  ^«* 
for  all  trouble  and  the  toiiy  S  bTwhiH  '"  "  """  ""'  P»^ 
does  not  pay  to  raise  eaives  whe^  Vo^l  I    '""'™''  '''^-    " 
Cochrane,  the  owner  of  ih.  „Ii  T    .  ^       "'^  '""'P  ""c  cow.    (Mr 
told  n.e  (Le  other  mo  nil.  thatlaT    "7  "°''"''''='  <"  '^-""V' 
an  English  gentleman  rC°l^:r  "?  '°'" ."  ™"  "'  ""^-^  '» 
dollars).    I  ,hi„k  it  w^uld  pay  toT™     "^'^ ''"'™'^ ''"''"»''"'' 
calf  like  that).    A  tablespoon'  "f  I?  1™!?    °""'  "  '^'"  ""O  » 
and  then  win  prevent  tl^e  ealf  rom™!;  'If ""  ""' "'"'^  ■«>»' 

common  among  calves  broS  tu°l  ^"11™?  '"="'"P'''i»'  '"'ry 

r.e  makes  a  valuable  soilm,tllnC  b^tle  L'^^Ti^^r '"'•'' 

re,r^:n:^^i^:;r  ;^:^r^^^^^^  .ummer.  They  do  not 
great  comfort  to  them  to  lick  themJ,  """y  "«='  '""'C  and  It  is  a 
be  well  curried  every  day  I,  ts  he'  ■=';  "'"■""S"  '""y  ought  to 
they  stand  more  quiet  y  Don't  ,J  1  """^  """'•  '""^ding,  as 
the  COW'S  tea.sin'the^milk  pal  aflTtrrK""'-'"'"''  ■■  ^^^ 
Insist  on  her  taking  a  wet  cloH,  I.?/  ^^    """  ""*  '"  ™g<Je. 

oughly  before  she  cLIetctmiki?  "' """'^  ""^  *or. 
in  ten  minutes,  although  the  fl,t  „'.  r  ?"  ""''""  '»  """"''cd 
r  tugged  away  for  an  hour  I  ta'wi^""?"^  ""»"''  "I""", 
have,  and  I  was  bound  t,.  get  it  aT„>7  ""'"'  "'"^  ^  »»eht  to 
a  young  one,  but  will  givf  richer  mnl  T  ""'  ■""  ""'■•'=  'han 
with  her  second  calf  vou  ca„  t.      L       "  ^'^  '^'"'  g^t  a  cow 

When  she  should  be  sofdlThe  butcher"  "C""'"  '"  ''™^"™- 
-—- _____^^ixicner.     ihere  is  nothing  that 

'  It  is  better,  as  n  r-ji^  „,--- '^    ^^  "^ 

fee  todrtak  IS  i:.aue„c;^  byhrdufr"!'  '».'-'""•"•   Aptn^„«;;. 


ii<m 


14 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


will  keep  your  cow-shed  so  neat,  and  add  so  much  to  the  value  of 
your  manure  pile,  as  a  few  shovelfuls  of  dry  earth  or  muck  thrown 
under  the  cow.    It  will  absorb  the  liquid  manure  better  than  any- 
thing else.    Don't  allow  your  milk  pans  to  be  appropriated  for 
all  sorts  of  household  uses ;  you  cannot  make  sweet,  firm  butter 
if  the  milk  is  put  into  rusty  old  tin.    Skim  the  milk  twice  a  day 
into  the  stone  chum ;  add  a  little  salt,  and  stir  it  well  every  time 
you  put  in  fresh  cream.    Use  spring  water,  but  don't  allow  ice 
to  come   m   contact   with  the    butter;    it    destroys  both  color 
and  flavor.    If  your  cream  is  too  warm  the  butter  will  come  more 
quickly,  but  it  will  be  white  and  soft.    When  the  cream  is  so  cold 
that  it  takes  me  half  an  hour  to  churn,  I  always  have  the  best 
butter.    Don't  put  your  hands  to  it,  work  out  the  buttermilk  with 
a  wooden  paddle,  and  work  in  the  salt  with  the  same  thhig. 
There  is  an  old  saying  that  one  quart  of  milk  a  day  gives  one  pound 
of  butter  a  week,  and  I  think  it  a  pretty  fair  rule,  but  don't  expect 
to  buy  a  cow  that  will  give  you  thirty  quarts  of  milk  a  day.  There 
are  such  cows  I  know,  but  they  are  not  for  sale.    Be  quite  satisfied 
if  your  cow  gives  half  that  quantity.    Place  the  cow's  food  where 
she  cannot  step  on  it,  but  don't  put  it  high  up;  It  is  natural  for 
them  to  eat  with  their  heads  down.    I  think  it  is  better  that  the 
family  cow  should  have  a  calf  every  year,  provided  you  can  have 
them  come  early  in  the  spring  or  late  in  the  autumn.    As  to  the 
time  that  a  cow  should  be  dry,  that  depends  much  upon  the  way 
the  cow  was  brought  up.    If  she  was  allowed  to  go  dry  early  in 
the  season  with  her  first  calf,  she  will  always  do  it.    A  cow  being 
a  very  conservative  animal,  she  should  be  milked  as  long  as  her 
milk  is  good.    When  she  is  dry  stop  feeding  the  provender,  bran, 
and  oil-cake,  and  give  her  plenty  of  good  hay,  with  some  roots, 
until  after  she  calves.    The  provender  and  oil-cake  being  strong 
food,  are  apt  to  produce  inflammation  and  other  troubles  at  calv- 
ing time.    You  can  feed  turnips  when  she  is  dry,  at  the  rate  of  two 
pails  a  day,  cut  up  fine,  of  course,  but  don't  feed  turnips  when  she 
is  milkmg.    I  ha-.e  tried  every  way  to  destroy  the  flavor  of  tur- 
nips in  milk,  but  without  success.    I  have  boiled  it,  put  soda  in  it, 
fed  the  cow  after  milking,  but  it  was  all  the  same— turnip  flavor 
unmistakable— and  as  we  don't  like  our  butter  so  flavored,  I  only 
feed  turnips  when  the  cow  is  dry. 
The  Rev.  E.  P.  Roe  in  his  delightful  book  called  "  Play  and 


Front  m 


sa  y  a  ! 


"If  ft  famil^  in  ordinarv  fiTood  cir- 


cumstances, kept  a  separate  account  of  the  fruit  and  vegetables 
bought  and  used  during  the  year,  they  would,  doubtless,  be  sur- 


KEEPING   ONE  COW.  jg 

prised  at  the  sum  total.    But  if  fhov  r.nni^  „      *i- 
could  and  would  consume  JtheyVidn't  hL  t'  T"""*  '""'^ 
would  be  a  veiy  mild  way  of  puttL  it ''    Th  J  "^'  '"""P"'" 

to  the  keeping  of  a  cow     wf  k.    ^  ^  ^^""^  '"^^^  ^PP^^es 

togetalong^lhit  Xco?,iLTuT;Zr  :'f^^^'  "^°^^^ 
day  and  we  make  way  with  Thf  ^  at  /"art  of^i^  Ttr\^'''T 
cow  and  a  garden  one  may  manage  to  livPhn.  f  J'"^  "^'^^  « 
according  to  my  ways  of VhiS  *"  ^'"^f' ^'^^  ^^^^  ^^thout  either, 
its  pleasures.  ^  ^"'^''  ""^"^^  ^^  «^«^^  ^^  n^-^of 


'I 


ilf 


16 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


THE    COW    IN    THE   MIDDLE    STATES. 

BY  W.  L.  BATTLES,  GIBARD,  PA. 

Instead  of  writing  on  how  a  cow  might  be  kept,  I  propose 
simply  to  tell  just  how  we  manage  our  cow,  what  we  feed  her 
how  we  procure  that  food ;  in  fact  everything  relatmg  to  her  care, 
so  that  any  one  can  go  and  do  likewise, 

"  Spot,"  we  call  her,  for  she  has  a  beautiful  white  spot  in  her 
forehead,  is  not  a  Jersey,  for  we  can  not  atFord  to  buy  one  at  the 
prices  at  which  they  are  held  with  us;  nor  is  she  a  thorough-bred 
of  any  kind :  yet  she  is  a  good  cow,  of  medium  size,  fills  a  twelve- 
quart  pail  each  night  and  morning,  when  her  milk  is  in  good  flow, 
that  raises  a  thick  coat  of  rich  cream,  which,  after  been  churned, 
furnishes  all  the  butter  needed  for  a  family  of  six,  and  some  to 
spare.    Our  place  is  small,  only  two  acres,  and  a  portion  of  this 
is  covered  by  the  dwelling,  barn,  poultry-house,  etc.    The  fruit 
garden  occupies  about  one-fourth  of  an  acre,  and  from  this  por- 
tion nothing  is  grown  to  furnish  food  for  "  Spot."    Adjoining 
the  barn  there  is  half  an  acre  of  the    land  in  good  grass,  or 
mostly  clover,  and  every  spring  a  quart  of  clover  seed  is  sown, 
so  as  fast  as  the  old  plants  die  out,  young  ones  take  their  places. 
A  bushel  of  land  plaster  is  sown  on  this  when  the  grass  begins  to 
start  in  the  spring.    This  plot  produces   a  very  heavy  growth  of 
grass  and  clover,  enabling  us  to  cut  it  three  times  each  season ; 
about  the  first  of  June,  August,  and  of  October.    A  coat  of  fine 
manure  is  always  spread  over  the  ground  immediately  after  each 
mowmg.    The  grass  is  mostly  cured,  and  makes  fine  hay  for  win- 
ter feeding.    Occasionally  a  small  portion  of  the  crop  is  used 
green  for  soiling.    Besides  the  land  occupied  by  buildings,  fruit 
garden,  and  clover  plot,  there  remains  about  one  acre,  which 
we  call  the  garden.    Here  are  grown  all  the  vegetables  for  the 
family's  use,  besides  some  to  sell.    About  one-fourth  of  it  is 
planted  to  Early  Rose  potatoes,  and  as  soon  as  these  are  suflBciently 
ripe  for  use  or  market,  they  are  dug,  and  sweet  corn,  in  drills,  for 
fodder,  is  sown  upon  the  land.    Another  fourth  of  an  acre  is 
planted  to  sugar  beets;  the  ground  being  very  rich,  the  peld  is 
always  large ;  this  last  season  (1879),  though  very  dry,  I  harvested 
one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  bushels.     Our  cow  is  very  fond 

-J!      xu_    1 *-       „_.J     T    «V.{n1>-      fV>A.>r>    id     r>rktV>ir>nr    Hoft<»I«     f.f\    tppn    IITJ    ft 

Ul      lllC    UCCIB,    auu    X    ixiiiin.     lixviT-'    lo    ii-'vuii.g    • — •      — 1-     — x- 

flow  of  milk,  and  they  give  it  no  bad  flavor,  as  do  turnips.    An 
additional  fourth  of   an  acre  is  planted  to  9Weet,  or  evergreen, 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


17 


of  them  consumed      As  soon  -  t.^^^^'^'^  ""'^  ''''y  P^^ticle 

ground  it  oeeuS  is  tLZgh^fiLTdVal^r'^r'^ 
sown  to  winter  rve  to  hP  n  Jf  <>         -,•  manured,  and  then 

consequently,  on  the  most  of  this  acre   tTo  crol  «!       !,       ^ 

aer  com ,  this  is  hard  to  cure  sufficiently  to  keep  bright  and 
swee    through  the  winter,  but  by  mixing  a  layer  of^corntdder 
and  a  layer  of  straw,  it  all  comes  out  nice  and  bright.    Besides' 
keeping  both  horse  and  cow,  we  have  marketed  from  this  littL 
lann  m  bernes,  vegetables,  butter,  eggs,  poultry,  and  one  fat  hog 
weighing,  dressed,  over  three  hundred  pounds,  four  hundred  and 
sncty-eight  dollars' worth  of  the  above  produce,  keepLg  enou"h 
for  our  own  use,  and  salting  down  one  barrel  of  pork 

THE  BARN. 

The  barn  is  twenty-five  by  thirty  feet,  with  the  stable  on  the 
south  side.     The  stall  for  "Spot"  is  five  feet  wide    and    he 

fpTw-^J        ""^  '^'  '''"'^'  ''  ^^'  ^''^  ^^"^'  ^it^  «  "ranger  two 
feet  wide  in   front,  one  and  a  half  high  next  to  the  cow,  and 

three  feet  next  to  the  bam  floor.    She  is  fastened  with  a  wide 

strap  around  her  neck,  attached  to  a  chain  eighteen  inches  lone 

which  IS  fastened  to  a  staple  driven  into  a  post  at  the  comer  of 

the  stall  adjoining  the  manger;  this  gives  her  room  to  turn  her 

head  so  as  to  lick  any  portion  of  her  body.    The  floor  is  made 

of  two-inch  plank,  battened  on  the  under  side  with  thin  boards 

r^sed    from    the   ground  vu  mches  in  rear  and  one  foot  in 

bThmd  T^!  rT^'  '°?  "'^°'  ^""  ^"^^^  '^'  f«"^-f««t  alley 
lA^°^.T?.^!_"i^^y  ^f,^  ?^y  fl««^  beaten  perfectly  solid  and 
ifi-v..    ......  tw  tuc  oiaoie  aoor  is  a  large  bin,  ten  by  seven  feet 

^^InXTbLT'-'r*  T  ""f '  ^*  *^^  «*^^^  -^  «^  '^^  ^^ 

another  bm,  ten  by  eleven  feet,  for  stormg  leaves  for  bedding. 


'Iff 


18 


KEEPINQ   ONE  COW. 


My  great  object  is  not  only  to  make  "  Spot "  comfortable,  and 
have  her  stable  free  from  all  bad  odors,  but  to  save  all  the 
manure,  both  liquid  and  solid.  Tlie  best  absorbent  is  dried  muck, 
pulverized,  or  road-dust  from  clayey  roads.  As  it  is  easier  to 
procure  tlie  latter,  I  generally  make  use  of  that,  and  always 
keep  from  two  to  three  inches  of  it  in  the  alley ;  this  effectually 
absorbs  all  the  liquid  portions  and  all  offensive  odors.  Twice  each 
day  this  is  thrown  out  through  a  window  closed  by  a  sliding  shut- 
ter in  the  rear  of  the  stall,  under  a  shed,  where  it  remains  until 
wanted  for  use.  In  the  fall  I  go  to  the  woods  and  procure  a 
sufficient  quantity  of  leaves  to  last  until  spring  ;  a  liberal  use  of 
these  not  only  makes  a  nice,  soft,  clean  bed,  but  largely  increases 
the  quantity  of  manure.  The  stable  opens  into  a  small  yard, 
across  one  corner  of  which  runs  a  small  brook.  Each  morning 
the  cow  is  permitted  to  go  out  and  drink ;  if  the  weather  is  pleas- 
ant, she  is  allowed  to  remain  out  an  hour  for  exercise.  She  is  let 
out  the  same  at  night,  after  sunset  in  warm  weather,  so  that  she  will 
not  be  annoyed  by  flies.  The  barn  is  well  battened,  and  is  warm 
in  winter;  it  is  well  ventilated  by  two  windows,  but  these,  in 
summer,  are  darkened  by  blinds,  with  wide  slats,  to  keep  out  flies. 

SYSTEM  OF  FEEDING. 

Each  morning,  while  "Spot"  is  eating  her  breakfast,  she  is 
well  curried  with  a  curry  co  nb  or  card,  and  if  any  filth  is  observed 
on  her  bag  or  teats  (which  is  very  seldom),  they  are  carefully 
washed  oflF,  if  in  winter,  with  warm  water.  She  is  never  scolded 
nor  whipped ;  consequently  she  never  kicks  over  the  pail,  or  holds 
up  her  milk.  She  is  fed  in  winter  with  a  peck  of  sugar-beets  cut 
up,  both  morning,  noon, and  night;  also  a  bushel  of  cut  feed, 
either  corn-stalks  or  clover  hay,  wet  with  a  pailful  of  hot  water, 
with  two  quarts  of  "  sugar  meal,"  or  bran,  thoroughly  mixed  to- 
gether, with  a  little  salt  sprinkled  over  it.  I  generally  use  what  is 
known  here  as  "  sugar  meal "  to  mix  with  her  feed ;  it  is  corn 
meal  from  the  factory  after  the  sugar  or  glucose  has  been  ex- 
tracted ;  it  costs  from  ten  cents  to  twelve  and  a  half  cents  per 
bushel,  and  I  prefer  it  to  bran,  and  "  Spot "  likes  it  very  much. 
We  consider  her  a  machine  for  converting  the  food  we  give  her 
Into  milk,  and  the  more  we  can  get  her  to  eat  and  digest,  the  more 
milk  is  obtained,  and  the  greater  the  profit.  It  is  a  good  plan  to 
change  the  food  occasionally,  substituting  carrots  for  beets,  clover 
hay  for  com  fodder,  for  bnites,  like  mankind,  are  fond  of  a 
variety.    There  are  root-cutters  that  can  be  procured  for  cutting 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


19 


ap  roots,  but  I  have  always  used  a  common  spade,  ground  sharo 
and  an  empty  flour  barrel  to  hold  the  beets.  It  takes  but  a  f e^' 
mmutes  to  cut  up  a  mess  of  beets  in  that  way. 

MANURE. 
With  a  bin  of  road-dust,  and  one  of  leaves,  a  winter's  sunnlv  of  Ht 
tor  .s  secured,  and  it  is  surprising  what  a  pil   of  mLur   we  have  1' 
Uj.  spnng     Another  valuable  source  of  manure  is  the  p"  sty  with 

L  '  '^T,?''^'"'  ■•"'-"""  •""■"  summer  ^rSrht 
lect  long,  t  iree  feet  wide,  anrl  three  feet  deep.  The  duat  tl.« 
e^^ickens  work  down  with  the  dropping,  fe  suffle'ient  to  absoA  a, 

™  uable  ranr"  IT"", ""  ''f  '"rt"'^'"""  'J"''""''^  of  this  m '" 
Tamable  guano.    A  large  hox  of  road-dust  is  always  kent  in  .h« 

«uabrf:^tir"""K   "T"'  ""-'■ '""-'■«  a  quanmy'of  mo't 

snX     Tl  I!'      ""™  ^"""'"^  "x'  '=■"*'■'«  1""»  all  noxious 

smells.    The  wash  water  and  slop,  from  fie  kitc'ien  are  niS 

^^rKeranr"""^  "'  =°'' "■"•  «*-  ~  wh  eh'a^ 
P^le     pZ  ■  "'   "'™   "'   '^"'"y^'  '=a'-'-^^'   'o  tie  manure 

pile.    From  so  many  sources  we  are  enabled  to  give  onr  sm»11 

famiamo.,,   liberal   supply  of    manure  e,,cl.    spring   andTaH 
so   that  even    with   the  double  croppin<r  most   of   it   Z.     k 

::sr:eL"on— '■  "■■•'  ^'-'"^  ---'Airuc! 

CROPS  AND  TILLAGE. 


20 


KEEPIXa   ONE  COW. 


lii'i 


mellow,  and  cultivate  throe  or  four  timca,  nfter  which  they  will 
take  care  of  themselves  and  soon  cover  the  ground.    With  ground 
in  good  condition,  and  a  fair  season,  six  hundred  to  eight  hundred 
bushels  per  acre  can  be  easily  produced.     Let  tliem   grow  until 
frost  conies,  wlien  tliey  should  be  dug  witli  a  garden  fork,  the  tops 
cut  off,  and  stored  for  winter.     Those  to  be  used  before  the  firat  of 
March,  are  stored  in  the  cellar,  the  others  are  buried  in  a  long  pit, 
digging  out  a  shallow  pla(!e,  piling  up  the  roots  about  three  feet 
high,  and  three  feut  wide,  covering  well  with  straw  and  sufflcient 
soTl  to  keep  them  from  freezing,  putting  in  a  drain-tile  about  every 
four  feet  in  the  top  of  the  pile,  with  one  end  to  project  a  little 
through  the  covering,  for  ventilation.     If  the  weather  becomes 
very  cold,  lay  a  turf  over  the  tile,  and  remove  when  pleasant.    I 
grow  carrots  after  the  same  plan,  and  store  in  like  manner.    I 
prefer  beets,  as  they  are  so  much  larger,  it  is  less  trouble  to  gather 
and  take  care  of  them,  and  the  crop  is  generally  larger,  still  I 
always  grow  sonie  carrots  for  a  change.    I  plant  sweet  corn   in 
drills,  always  piit  some  fertilizer  along  t'le  furrow,  dropping  the 
kernels  about  eight  inches  apart,  with  the  rows  three  feet  wide,  I 
commence  planting  soon  after  May  first,  and  continue  at  intervals 
until  about  July  first,  so  I  can  have  a  fresh  supply  for  use,  and 
market,  all  the  season.    Tlie  sweet  corn  being  grown  on  the  plot 
sown  to  winter  rye,  for  soiling,  enables  us  to  cut  some  portions  of 
it  twice,  before  the  ground  is  needed  for  corn.     When  sowing  com 
for  fodder,  which  is  done  as  soon  as  we  commence  digging  the 
early  potatoes,  I  sow  it  in  drills  two  feet  apart,  and  drop  the 
kernels  about  one  inch  apart  in  the  drills,  manure  from  the  pigsty 
is  first  dropped  in  the  furrow,  and  covered  with  soil  at  least  two 
inches  deep,  or  tlie  corn  will  not  come  up.    This  fertilizer  is  so 
strong,  if  properly  used  it  causes  a  most  extraordinary  growth  of 
stalks!'    While  the  corn  is  small,  cultivate  it  two  or  three  times 
with  a  narrow  cultivator,  when  it  will  take  care  of  itself,  and  there 
will  be  a  surprising  growtli  of  stalks ;  I  have  them  often  six  feet 
high.     Just  before  time  for  frosts,  cut  with  a  scythe,  and  set  up  in 
sniall  bunches  bound  around  the  top,  and  leave  to  cure  until  cold 
weather.     When  it  is  to  be  put  in  the  mow,  spread  alternately  a 
layer  of   stalks,  and  a  layer  of  straw,  and    it  will  keep  bright 
and    sweet  until  wanted.    The   rye  for  spring  soiling    is  sown 
when  the  sweet  corn    is  picked,  and  stalks   removed,  in  drills 
about  ten  inches  apart.    Fine  manure  is  spread  on  the  ground 
after    plowing,  and    thoroughly  mixed   with    the   sur.aee  .soi. ; 
one  or  two  hoeings  being  gi.-^n  to  keep  the  ground  mellow; 
to  destroy  any  weeds  that  may  make  their  appearance.    By  May 


Xeepiko  one  cow. 


21 


first,  the  early  sown  rye  will  cover  the  Rroiincl  with  a  dense 
growth,  at  least  four  feet  high,  furnishing  a  large  quantity  ot  most 
nutritious  green  food.  On  those  portions  of  the  plot  where  the 
latest  corn  is  to  be  planted,  two  or  three  cuttings  are  made ;  this 
gives  most  excellent  food  for  the  cow,  and  the  quantity  grown 
on  this  fourth  of  an  acre  will  surprise  any  one  who  has  never  tried 
it.  There  is  quite  a  plot  of  early  peas,  and  as  soon  as  the  last 
picking  occurs,  while  the  vines  are  green,  they  are  pulled  and  fed 
to  "Spot,"  who  relishes  them  very  much.  Turnips,  or  corn,  are 
at  once  sown  on  the  ground  where  the  peas  were. 

When  our  early  cabbages  are  taken  up,  all  the  leaves,  and  much 
of  the  stalks,  are  turn  "J  i.ito  milk  by  taking  them  to  the  cow's 
manger,  and  the  ground  at  once  planted,  or  sown,  to  something 
that  will  m  Ike  morj  fo  )d.     The  beet,  carrot,  and  turnip  tops,  and 
late  cabbage  leaves,  make  quite  a  quantity  of  feed  late  m  the  fall, 
if  care  is  taken  in  saving  and  preserving  them.     Possibly  there  may 
be  some  better  forage  crop  than   "  evergreen,"  or  su-mr  corn  •  I 
think  another  fall  I  will  try  the  Minnesota  Amber  Sugar  Cane  'in 
a  small  way.     I  tried  Pearl  Millet,  in  one  row,  this  season;'  it 
tillered,  or  spread  wonderfully,  but  did  not  do  so  well  as  the  corn, 
as  the  stalks  were  small,  a!id  the  millet  makes  such  a  feeble  growth,' 
at  first,  it  requires  the  whole  season  to  produce  as  much  fodder  as 
I  get  from  corn  sowed  the  fourth  of  July. 

CALyi]SG. 

I  generally  manage  to  have  the  cow  come  in  about  the  first  of 
September;  by  that  means  the  six  weeks  time  she  is  allowed  to 
go  dry,  occurs  during  the  warmest  portion  of  the  summer,  viz  in 
July  and  August,  when,  with  the  facilities  the  person  who  ke'eps 
but  one  cow  possesses,  it  is  difl3cult  to  make  good  butter  This 
is  also  the  season  when  butter  most  generally  sells  the  lowest 

The  calf  is  fxi  r  it  to  drink  after  it  is  a  week  or  ten  days  old, 
aid  fed  on  i  poriilge  made  from  skim-milk  and  wheat  middlings, 
or  shorts;  by  the  time  it  is  six  weeks  or  two  months  old  it  will  be 
well  fattenad,  and  can  b3sold  to  the  butcher  for  veal,  at  a  good 
pnc3,  for  at  that  S3iison  of  the  ye^r  veal  is  scarce  and  m  demand. 
Ihe  cow  bnng  m  full  flow  of  milk  all  winter,  when  butter  is  most 
always  high,  will  pxy  a  good  profit  for  her  feed  and  care.  A 
couple  of  weeks  prior  to  the  time  the  calf  should  be  born,  I 
make  a  box  stall  on  the  bain  floor,  and  permit  the  cow  to  run 

loose  in  it  nntil   fKr>  ..«lf    Ir.   ff,l-„,,    ...  ,       ,  -    . 

.,  .   '  " '•••"  '""  ■  "^^^  ^'  "^ei^  iivvay  to  learn  to  drink.    During 

this  time  she  should  have  a  good  bed  of  leaves,  and  the  stall  be 
cleaned  each  night  and  morninr       ^o  far  at  such  times  I  have  ex- 


dd 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


perienccd  no  diflaculty,  or  trouble  ;  sliould  any  occur,  it  is  better 
to  apply  to  an  experienced  person,  than  to  try  and  "  doctor"  her 
yourself.  After  the  calf  is  horn,  I  feed  the  cow  on  warm  slops  a 
day  or  two,  permittin/^  the  calf  to  suck  until  the  swelling  has  gone 
from  her  bag,  and  it  has  assumed  its  natural  condition.  Then,  as 
before  stated,  teach  it  to  drink,  wliich  can  easily  be  done  by  in- 
serting the  linger  in  its  mouth,  and  putting  its  head  in  the  disli, 
cautiously  withdrawing  the  finger  a  few  times,  and  in  a  short  time 
you  will  have  no  difficulty,  as  it  will  help  itself. 

In  conclusion,  I  can  say  I  have  tried  to  state  just  how  our  cow 
is  managed  and  kept.  I  presume  there  can  be  improvements 
made  on  our  system.  I  shall  be  glad  to  take  advantage  of  the 
experience  of  others,  at  any  and  all  times.  No  record  is  kept  of 
the  milk  obtained,  or  of  the  butter  made.  We  know  we  always 
have  plenty  for  the  family's  use,  and  considerable  to  spare. 
Bread  and  milk  furnish  the  children  half  tlieir  food  a  portion  of 
the  time.  Pure  milk  and  plenty  of  fresh  fruits,  in  abundance,  we 
consider  afford  one  of  the  principal  reasons  why  our  family  is  so 
healthy,  and  we  have  so  few  doctor's  bills  to  pay. 

From  our  acre  and  a  half,  all  the  food  has  been  grown  for  both 
cow  and  horse,  except  the  three  dollars  expended  for  straw.  The 
"sugar  meal"  given  the  cow  has  not  cost  five  dollars  during  the 
past  year.  It  is  safe  to  say,  that  one  half,  and  probably  more,  of 
the  clover,  corn  fodder,  green  rye,  etc ,  has  been  fed  to  the 
horse.  Consequently  the  keepin ;  of  the  cow  can  all  be  credited 
to  the  small  area  of  about  three-fourths  of  an  acre  of  land, 
in  addition  to  an  outlay  of  not  exceeding  seven  dollars  for 
meal,  bran,  and  straw.  This  land,  about  one  half  of  it,  has 
also  produced,  in  addition,  full  crops  for  the  use  of  the  family,  or 
market,  while  the  sour  milk  and  buttermilk  have  largely  assisted 
in  making  six  hundred  pounds  of  pork.  The  calf,  at  less  than 
two  months  of  age,  was  sold  for  eight  dollars,  which  more  than 
paid  for  the  extra  feed  bought  for  the  cow.  The  family  which  has 
never  kept  a  cow  can  hardly  realize  the  satisfaction  and  benefits 
derived  from  such  a  source.  Children,  whose  appetites  are  often 
capricious,  will  almost  always  relish  a  cup  of  cool  milk.  Cream, 
for  our  coffee  at  breakfast,  is  much  enjoyed  by  all,  hut  realized  by 
few,  and  what  can  be  more  delicious  than  a  nice  dish  of  straw- 
berries smothered  in  rich  yellow  cream.  When  we  consider  the 
small  expense,  the  little  trouble  and  care,  contrasted  with  the 
great  benefits  derived,  it  is,  so  to  speak,  surprising  that  any  family 
should  rest  satisfied  without  possessing  a  cow. 


!i 


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"*'  "'   ■'■'       1* ~  «M*S>..1.^^  A.,.-*?.     '^n'|,f-''t  ( 


KEEl'INO   ONK   COW. 


«5 


THE    COW    T>[    THE    GULF    STATES. 

BT  OEOKOE  O.   JDIIFFEB,   MOBILE,   ALA. 

For  spvpral  years  I  had  been  exporimontiiiir  on  a  small  scale  in 
soiling  cattle.    My  urea  of  land,  however,  was  exceedingly  linuted, 
l)eing    only  a  portion   of    the   kitchen    garden  of    a    city  resi- 
dence,   but  my  succesfl   was,   even   in   this   small  way,  so  sat- 
isfactory, that   I  determined   at  some  future  day  to  try  it  on 
a  more  extensive  scale.    My  reading  and  experience  convinced 
nie,  that  in  our  favored  southern  climate,  a  half  acre  of  land, 
intelligently   cultivated,  would  produce  a  supply  of  f(,od  amply 
sufflcient    to  support   one  cow   through  the   year,  and   circum- 
stances favoring,  I  determined  to  try  Uie  exi)eriment.     In  April, 
1876, 1  became  owner  of  a  lot  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long 
by  one  hundred  and  twenty  wide  in  the  rear  of  my  premises— 
the    greater    portion   having  been    used  as  a  grass  plot  for   a 
horse.     I  immediately  began  by  fencing  otf  a  portion  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty  feet  by  two  hundred,  running  a  wagon-way 
eight  feet  wide  down  the  center,  which,  with  the  space  occu- 
pied by  the  stable  (say  twenty  by  thirty  feet),  left  nearly  twenty- 
two  thousand  feet,  or  within   a  fraction  of   half  an  acre,  for 
actual  cultivation.    The  land  was  a  sandy  loim,  covered  with 
a  thick  sod  of  Bermuda  and  other  grasses.      Years  before  it 
had    been    cultivated    as  a  market   garden,   but  latterly  given 
up  to  grass ;  it  sloped  to  the  south  sufl^ciently  to  favor  good  drain- 
age.   In  and  around  the  stable  was  a  goodly  lot  of  manure,  which, 
durmg  April,  was  spread  upon  the  land— some  forty  cart  loads.' 
On  April  twentieth  the  land  was  thoroughlv  plowed  with  a  two- 
horse  turning-plow,  and  harrowed  until  finely  pulverized.     On 
May  first,  I  planted  one  half  of  the  land  in  Southern  field  corn, 
in  drdls  two  feet  apart,  with   the  grains  about  one  inch  apart. 
Ihe  rows  were  lengthwise,  to  render  after  cultivation  more  con- 
venient.    On  May  fourth,  sugar  corn  was  put  in  one  half  of  the 
remainder,  planting  at  the  same  distance  as  the  larger  variety. 
May  sixth,  the  remaining  fourth  was  sown  heavily  with  German  or 
Golden  "  Millet,  in  drills  twelve  inches  apart.    Seasonable  show- 
ers,  followed  by  warm  sunny  days,  soon  produced  a  vigorous  and 
rapid  growth.    On  May  fifteenth,  a  Thomas'  harrow  was  run  over 
the  first  planted  corn,  and  six  days  later  over  the  second  olantine- 
ana  over  the  millet.     On  Miiy  thirtieth,  the  com  was  plowed,  fol- 
lowed by  a  good  hoeing.    A  fortnight  later,  a  second  and  last  hoeing 
2 


ttt 


Si  ! 


!{  M 


26 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


was  given.  The  millet  was  also  hoed  twice,  after  which  the  growth 
eflFectually  shaded  the  ground,  and  thus  prevented  the  growth 
of  weeds.    In  the  meantime  I  had  repaired  the  stable,  and  had  a 
large  door  cut  into  the  side  next  to  the  original  lot,  and  made  a  stall 
for  our  pet  Jersey  cow.    The  floor  was  cypress,  three  inches  thick, 
and  sloped  slightly  from  the  manger.    By  actual  measurement  of 
the  space  occupied  by  the  cow— giving  just  room  for  her  hind 
feet  to  clear  the  same,  a  trough,  eight  inches  deep,  and  fifteen 
wide,  was   me '3    to    receive    the  urine   and   droppmgs.     The 
stall  'was  four  and  one  half  feet  wide,  the  sides  coming  on- 
ly  half  the  length  of  the  cow,  and  just  her  hight.    The  manger 
extended  entirely  across  the  stall,  was  twelve  inches  wide  at  the 
bottom,  and  eighteen  at  the  top,  and  twelve  deep,  the  bottom 
bemg  twelve  inches  above  the  floor.    The  fastening  consisted  of  a 
five-eighths  iron  rod,  passing  from  one  side  of  the  stall  to  the  other, 
along  the  center  of  the  manger,  and  one  mch  from  it.    On  this 
rod  was  a  ring,  to  which  was  attached  a  short  chain  that  ended  in 
a  snap-catch,  lo  attach  to  a  ring  fastened  to  the  head-stall— the 
head-stall  being  made  of  good,  broad  leather.    Usually,  m  turning 
the  cow  out  in  the  morning,  the  head-stall  was  unbuckled  and  left 
in  the  stable  ;  to  fasten  again  was  but  a  moment's  work.    By  this 
arrangement  the  cow  had  full  liberty  to  move  her  head,  without 
aiiy  possibility  of  getting  fastened  by  the  halter.    The  bottom  of 
thfs  manger  was  made  of  slats,  one  half  inch  apart,  so  that  no  dirt 
could  collect.   For  feeding  wet  messes,  there  was  a  box  made  to  fit 
one  end  of  the  manger,  which  could  be  removed  to  be  washed  with- 
out  trouble.  With  plenty  of  sawdust,  costing  only  the  hauling,  per- 
fect comfort  and  perfect  cleanliness  were  matters  of  course. 

Attached  to  the  stable  was  a  lot  fifty  by  fifty  feet,  where,  in  pleas- 
ant weather,  the  cow  was  turned,  but  free  to  go  in  and  out  of  her 
stall  at  pleasure.  In  this  lot  was  a  trough,  connected  with  the  pump, 
where  a  supply  of  cleaa  and  fresh  water  was  always  kept.  Daily 
t'lis  trough  was  emptied  and  thoroughly  cleaned.  A  cow  may 
eat  dirty  feed  occasionally,  but  see  to  it  that  the  water  she  drinks  is 
pure.  Unless  this  is  attended  to  her  milk  is  unfit  for  human  food. 
The  manure  trough  being  supplied  with  sawdust,  the  urine, 
as  well  as  the  droppings,  were  saved  and  removed  daily  to  a 
covered  shed  located  in  one  corner  of  the  lot,  where  it  was  kept 
moist,  and  worked  over  occasionally.  Our  Jersey  was  due  with 
her  second  calf  abuul  Jane  twentieiii,  but  was  still  giving  milk 
in  April  and  May.  Her  feed  from  May  first  to  June  fifteenth, 
was  the  run  of  a  common  pasture,  with  a  mess  twice  daily  of 


KEEPIKG   OKE  COW. 


2'^ 


wheat  bran  and  corn  meal,  with  hay.    On  June  first  she  was 
dried   up  for  a   brief  resting  spell.     June   lifteentii   we    began 
cutting  tlie  sugar  com,  now  waist  high.    This  was  run  through 
a  cutter  (making  cuts  three-quarters  of  an  mch),  and  fed  to 
her   three    times  a  day,  first    sprinkling  two  quarts  of  wheat 
bran  over  the  com,  and  continuing  the  hay  feed  twice  a  day. 
At    the    s:une  time  she  was   taktn  from    the  pasture,   not  to 
go  on  again  untU  this  experiment  was  finished.    June  twenty- 
second  her  udder  was  so  distended,  it  was    deemed    prudent 
to  relieve  it  by  milking.     This  was  done  twice  a  day  for  three 
days.    Here,  at  the  South,  there  is  a  foolish  prejudice  against  doing 
this  the  belief  being  strong  among  the  ignorant  classes  that  it 
will  cause  the  death  of  the  coming  calf.     In  some  instances  I  have 
found  It  necessary  to  relieve  the  udder  daily  for  a  week  before 
calving ;  I  never  knew  any  evil  to  result.     At  dawn  June  twenty- 
fifth  there  was  a  fine  heifer  calf  beside  her.    As  soon  as  con- 
venient the  cow  was  thoroughly  milked,  and  a  bucket  of  water 
with  one  quart  each  of  corn  meal  and  wheat  bran  stirred  in  and 
a  pinch  of  salt,  was  given  her,  and  nothing  else  except  wate'r  for 
twenty-four  hours.     At  evening  she  was  again  milked  to  the  last 
drop,  and  the  calf  left  with  her  during  the  night.    Next  morning 
a  small  feed  of  three  quarts  of  wheat  bran,  and  one  quart  of  corn 
meal,  made  pretty  wet,  was  given  her,  and  her  udder  again  thor- 
oughly emptied.     After  milking,  a  small  feed  of  hay  was  given 
and  a  pail  of  water  placed  near.     The  calf  was  separated  from' 
her,  but  ^Yithin  sight.    At  mid-day  the  calf  was  allowed  to  take 
her  fill,  and  afterwards  the  udder  stripped.    At  evening,  as  the 
cow  seemed  to  be  free  from  any  indie  itions  of  fever,  or  inflamed 
bag,  she  was  given  a  full  mess  of  corn  meal,  wheat  bran,  cotton- 
seed meal,  and  hay.     Her  calf  took  her  supper,  and  the  udder 
was  again  stripped ;   that  night  the  calf  was  taken  from  her 
never  to  suck  again,  as  fresh  milk  in  a  city  was  too  valuable 
to  feed  to  even  a  registered  Jersey.    Having,  in  years  past,  lost 
several  very  fine  cows  from  over-feeding    and    under-milking, 
at  calving  time,  I  cannot  urge  too  strongly  what  Col.  Geo  e' 
Waring  calls  "  high  starvation  "  at  this  critical  period  in  a  cow's 
life.    If  a  cow  has  been  decently  cared  for  up  to  the  day  of  calv- 
mg,  she  needs  nothing  but  rest,  quiet,  and  a  light  mash,— warm  in 
cold  weather—for  twenty-four  hours,  and  then  but  light  feeding  for 
two  or  three  days.    But  be  sure  to  empty  her  ndder  com.pletelv  at 
least  twice  every  twenty-four  hours,  and  if  the  cow  is  a  deep  milker, 
then  three  times;  with  this  treatment,  the  feed  can  be  gradually 
increaied  to  all  that  she  will  lut  up  clean. 


m 


ss 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


TEACHING  THE  CALF  TO  DRINK. 

It  is  a  very  easy  matter  to  teach  a  calf  to  drink  milk,  when  one 
has  seen  the  thing  done.    Next  morning  this  calf  was  impatient 
for  her  mess  of  warm  milk,  so,  after  milking  her  dam,  I  took  a 
shallow  pan,  and  putting  two  quarts  of  milk  into  it  proceeded  to 
give  the  first  lesson  in  a  calf's  life,  of  doing  without  a  mother. 
The  process  is  very  simple ;  you  merely  wet  the  first  and  second 
fingers  of  the  left  hand  wiUi  milk,  and  place  them  in  the  calf's 
mouth,  to  give  her  a  taste  of  what  is  in  store.    Repeat  this  a  few 
times,  then  gradually  draw  the  pan  near  her  mouth  with  the  right 
hand,  using  your  left  as  above.     When  the  calf  permits  your  two 
fingers  to  enter  her  mouth,  raise  the  pan  so  that  your  left  hand 
will  be  immersed,  and  the  calf,  by  suction,  will  draw  the  milk  up 
between  the  fingers.     At  mid-day,  another  mess  of  milk,  and  a 
second  lesson  was  given;  at  evening  a  third.    Next  morning  the 
process  was  repeated,  but  in  this  instance  she  did  not  need  the 
fingers  to  guide  her  to  what  was  good  for  her ,  she  readily  accepted 
the  situation,  and  stuck  her  pretty  nose  into  the  warm  milk,  which 
rapidly  disappeared  to  where  it  would  do  the  most  good.    But 
with  milk  worth  ten  cents  per  quart,  and  cream  seven  times  as 
much,  it  did  not  "  pay  "  to  use  six  quarts  daily  of  rich  Jersey  milk 
in  this  way,  so,  after  a  fortnight's  supply  of  the  raw  material, 
the  feed  was  gradually  changed  to  sweet  skim-milk  for  two  weeks, 
and  then  substituting  hay-tea,  Jie  milk  ration  was  cut  down  to 
two  quarts  daily.    Beginning  with  a  tablespoonful  of  cotton-seed 
meal,  thoroughly  mixed  with  the  feed,  tlie  quantity  was  increased 
in  ten  days  to  one  pint  daily.  At  one  month  old,  she  was  gradually 
taught  to  eat  bran  by  stirring  it  into  her  food. 

The  preparation  of  hay-tea  is  very  simple.  Nice  hay  is  run 
through  a  cutter,  and  taking  an  ordinary  two-gallon  pailful,  boil- 
ing water  is  poured  upon  it ;  it  is  then  covered  and  allowed  to 
steep  for  twelve  hours.  This  makes  a  most  excellent  food,  and 
calves  thrive  upon  it.  The  most  stylish  and  vigorous  calf  I  ever 
saw,  was  raised  upon  hay-tea,  with  bran  and  cotton-seed  meal  as 
here  described.  I  enter  thus  fully  into  the  best  manner  of  raising 
a  calf  without  its  mother,  for  the  especial  benefit  of  my  southern 
readers,  where  the  thriftless  habit  of  allowing  the  calf  to  suck  its 
dam,  oftentimes  until  a  year  old,  so  generally  prevails.  In  this 
instance  the  little  heifer  g  )t  along  nicely  until  two  months  old, 
when  an  aggravated  attack  of  scours  set  in,  but  by  timely  doses  of 
laudanum  in  a  mess  of  warm  gruel,  poured  down  her  throat  twice 
a  day,  for  three  days,  a  cure  was  efl'ected.    In  ordinary  cases  of 


KEEPING   O.VE  COW.  ^9 

FOOD   OF  THE   COW. 
But  let  US  return  to  the  cow.    On  tlip  mnrn,-«      *  t 

latter;  and  this  ;!s  hef  ^ly Zd  toclulrT''' ^"'^  ""'  °'  '"" 
treated  in  the  same  way,  unUl  S.'^  "mter    "xie^S'^'f^  f  ""'' 

milked  at  regular  intervals  but  Iv  „  .  h  -^^  ^'"^  """^  '""^  "'"' 
venient  to  iXe  regular  hour'a.lf/ri^r  Vl'mlTrT 
as  an  exhibition  of  a  model  eow  in  a  model  lab t       ,         "  ^" 

tt^:nrter;r^"''''T-"-"^^"^^^^^^^^^^ 

tag  the  many  suggestions  and  hint\bo':t"hrt  Zl^l  Zt 

entire  time  o    two  able,  n,!T'°'''  "P"™"™.  "  ^ouM  tate  the 
h.  »I~.i-  „„   '™  »'','«->>«l'ed  men  to  at  end  one  ani,„al_o„.  to 

Now^^^ml  r:  oTa' '''Vn^' ''"  "'"^■'  '»  -"«  "'  "^ht 

managemem  ofTwVand  1  '"'^' "™  "'""'  W""''  '«  the 

S     ent  ot  C0W8,  and  my  experience  eonvinces  me  that  the 


*. 


80 


KEEPING   ONE  COW, 


average  man  wishes  only  to  know  the  cheapest  and  easiest  way  to 
have  an  abundant  supply  of  rich,  wholesome,  and  clean  milk,  and 
with  pride  enough  in  the  possession  of  a  good  cow  to  furnish  a 
good  shelter  and  comfortable  quarters.  Beyond  these,  breeders  of 
fancy  and  high-priced  stock  may  go  to  any  extreme,  and  find  a 
paying  business  in  doing  so,  but  the  village  or  city  owner  of  one 
or  two  cows,  kept  solely  for  his  own  use,  can  not  afford  to  indulge 
in  any  of  this  "  upper-tendom "  style  of  cow  life;  it  won't  pay 
him.  As  a  row  of  corn  was  cut  and  fed,  the  land  was  plowed, 
manured,  and  more  corn  (common  field)  drilled  in  thick,  so  that 
the  ground  for  the  whole  summer  presented  the  appearance  of  an 
experimental  corn  field,  with  corn  at  every  stage  of  its  growth. 
This  was  kept  up  through  the  months  of  July,  August,  Sep- 
tember, and  October.  Indeed,  the  half  of  this  yield  was  more 
than  sufficient  for  keeping  the  cow  in  superb  condition,  so  that 
much  the  greater  portion  was  cut  in  the  tasselling  stage  and  cured 
for  winter  feed.  After  September  begins,  it  will  not  do  to  sow 
corn;  the  worms  destroy  it,  but  in  our  southern  Bean,  or  "cow 
pea,"  we  have  one  of  the  very  best  of  soiling  crops.  Sown  either 
broadcast,  or  in  drills,  it  does  equally  well,  makes  a  rapid  growth, 
and  affords  a  tempting  and  nutritious  food  for  cattle.  It  grows 
until  checked  by  frost,  and  I  know  of  no  plant,  save  Indian  com, 
that  produces  more  weight  to  a  given  quantity  of  land.  In  this 
instance  we  fed  it  daily  during  October  and  late  into  Nov(;ml)er, 
before  a  frost  put  an  end  to  its  use  in  its  green  state.  Anticipating 
a  frost,  it  was  cut  and  cured  for  winter  feed.  Properly  cured,  no 
hay  equals  it  for  cattle. 

November  twenty-fourth  our  cow  went  into  winter  quarters,  and 
for  her  winter  feed  there  were  over  four  thousand  eight  hundred 
pounds  of  well  cured  corn-fodder,  and  one  thousand  five  hundred 
pounds  of  good  pea-vine  hay— far  more  than  she  could  consume. 

Early  iu  December,  after  spreading  over  the  land  all  the  manure 
on  hand,  it  was  plowed  again  with  a  two-horse  turning  plow,  and 
sowed  thickly  to  oats,  harrowing  tliem  in.  A  seasonable  rain 
gave  them  a  good  start,  so  they  were  well  prepared  for  the  vioisi- 
tudes  of  winter— a  good  stand  and  vigorous  growth.  The  cow 
now  received  a  daily  ration  of  corn  fodder  and  pea  hay, 
run  through  the  cutter,  and  after  mixing  thoroughly  three 
quarts  of  wheat  bran  and  one  quart  of  cotton-seed  meal,  were 
wet  with  water  (warm  ia  cold  weather).  This  was  given  her 
in  the  morning,  and  the  same  quantity  at  evening.  The  corn 
fodder  and  pea-hay  for  a  day's  feed  were  fifteen  pounds  of  each, 


KEEPINC}   ONE   COW.  81 

more  or  less.    On  this  food  she  was  kent  thrm„.t,  fK„      •  . 
g.v  ng  mUk  of  excellont  quality,  and  in  gtd  qS;''  "'"*"' 

wheat  bran,  and  cotton  meal  A  out  S.Z  fl  ,  n  "f 'i'"^' 
.reen  oat,  „a,  increased  .o  all  tue  lotu  eft  teedL^M  "' 
times  daily,  and  tlie  excellen<».  m  „  ■  . •  .  '  ™«°'"e  "»ree 
nmrked  increase  in  .be TuaZy  of  ht  mSk  ""V'T"  "^  « 
calve  again  i„  ,,„,y.  she  l.JnuJdt,  supply  tfal  To' 'tJnU" 
sons  Willi  an  abundance  of  milk     T^f.  ii  a  f       ,     '^'" 

wc,.  in  .ae  miik  state,  tl.ey  w^^l  ^t":'       .d"    ;Cm:k"io":a 
little  over  a  ton  of  good  food  ^'  ™**''°*-  * 

vie?o?  trexneLT/'f  "'™''' ?""  ""'■''"«  """"^  ""O  ce"ts 
mTtL     tL  ifh  ,  ^"''^'""S  "  <=»*  on  a  half  acre  is  sub- 

n  lea    The  labor  expended  in  cultivation  is  not  put  down  as  an 

rLi^rrth'et:,!^'"^'^  "-^^  ^-^  '^  ^  •--'"«»" 

Dr 

To  l,500pounds  Wheat  Bran,  atboc .,o  «. 

300  pounds  Corn  Meal,  at  70c.... *T?X 

wU  pounds  Hay,  at  75c  °"" 

Total _3:25 

^ «35.15 

^^-'^^^'|!lSKao^oXr7r-^.^::::^,5%- 

Profit riO§ 

Q  ^  ,,  ^  ' $3.80 

But  the  profit  above  shown  does  not  express  the  real  nrofif      a 
year's  continuous  supply  of  rioh  miiir  i«  „k   \i  i  ^      *'    ^ 

experiment  ^'  "««"'«'"'  *^»  '="«''  ^«»"'»s  of  the 

cxSerr;irrs,rn  rH^etrrSia-  '-^-^  -^ 

rich  land  it  proluces  marvellousl"    I  havf rl  1  itT  ,1™"' i   "i 
one  hundred  thousand  pounds  (or  mtyZ":,:^  "'.?™'!  ^ 

speci^iy  fLor  it,  .'4i.k:siSt\^e;rtzr 


ij 


82 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


English)  Peas  make  an  excellent  food,  coming  into  use  fn  March, 
and  lasting  to  June.  I  remember  one  year  I  produced  five  crops 
for  soiling,  on  the  same  land,  in  one  year,  namely :  oats,  three  of 
corn,  and  one  of  cow-peas.  Th-  last  named  is  a  superb  food  late 
in  the  year,  after  corn  has  gone.  I  have  never  experimented  with 
roots,  nor  am  1  aware  of  any  being  cultivated  in  the  Soutli  as  a 
soiling  crop.  Cabbages  set  out  in  September  and  October  will  ))c; 
ready  for  feeding  in  December,  and  will,  next  to  corn,  produce  tie 
largest  weight  of  green  food.  One  year  I  fed  them  to  a  consider- 
able extent,  and  found  my  cows  were  very  partial  to  them.  By 
beginning  with  cabbages  in  December,  to  be  succeeded  by  oats  in 
March,  then  peas,  corn,  and  millet,  to  wind  up  in  November  with 
C5ow-pea,  a  cow  in  our  climate  caji  be  soiled  every  day  in  the  year. 


!■:   i 


^ 

■  i 

i) 

^  •1 

11 

!■   'I: 


i     1 


of 


an( 


usee 


the] 
mg\ 
five 


one 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


35 


THE   VILLAGE    COW   IN   KEW   ETOLAOT). 

BEING    THE    JOUBNAL    OP    THE   KEEPER. 

BT  HENBY  E.   ALVOKD,   EASTHA.MPTON,   MASS. 

In  writing  upon  this  subject  the  narrative  form  is  convenient 
and  while  it  cannot  be  claimed  that  this  is  entirely  a  "  true  storv  " 
it  may  be  said  to  be  founded  on  fact.  Personal  experience  is  my 
basis,  and  whatever  of  fancy  may  be  interwoven  with  the  facts 
would  have  been  quite  practicable,  and  all  ought  to  have  occur- 
red  as  narrated,  if  all  did  not. 

Let  me  premise  by  saying  that  I  own  a  comfortable  little  home 
in  a  village  of  a  few  thousand  inhabitants,  not  a  thousand  miles 
from  New  York,  supporting  my  family  by  a  moderate  income 
earned  from  day  to  day,  and  my  occupation  is  such  as  to  enable 
me  to  spend  an  average  of  three  hours  of  daylight  on  my  place 
from  the  middle  of  March  to  the  middle  of  October,  and  occasion- 
ally a  whole  day  besides.    Thus  I  can  make  and  care  for  my 
garden,  which  for  some  years  has  uniformly  been  an  excellent  one 
quite  a  model,  though   I  say  it.     Of   this  sort  of  work  I  have 
always  been  very  fond,  as  well  as  of  domestic  animals,  all  kinds 
of  which  were  familiar  to  me  when  a  boy. 

May  IsT,  1875.-For  several  years  I  have  kept  more  or  less 
poultry,  and  sometimes  a  pig;  there  is  so  much  from  a  good  garden 
that  IS  otherwise  wasted.    The  ambition  of  the  family  is  to  own  a 
horse  and  a  cow.     It  has  been  talked  about  a  good  deal,  but  we 
are  agreed  that  tlie  horse  would  be  a  pure  luxury,  in  our  circum- 
stances, and  must  wait.    The  cow  I  have  felt  would  be  a  luxury 
too,  that  is,  cost  more  than  it  would  produce,  but  on  this  point 
the  good  wife  has  differed  with  me,  claiming  that  it  would  be  a 
real  economy.     It  has  been  a  part  of  our  domestic  policy  to  use 
milk  and  butter  liberally,  thereby  keeping  down  the  butcher's  bill 
and  buying  very  little  lard.     Of  the  value  of  milk  as  an  article  of 
food,  in  its  natural  state,  and  in  tlie  many  ways  which  it  can  be 
used  in  cooking,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  especially  where  there  are 
young  and  growing  members  of  the  family.     Still,  I  have  been 
skeptical  on  the  economy  of  keeping  a  cow,  and  to  convince  me 
the  help-meet  recently  proved,  from  well  kept  accounts,  that  dur- 
ing the  last  two  years  there  have  been  consumed  by  our  family  of 
five  persons,  one  thousand  live  hundred  and  forty-five  quarts  of 
milk,  averaging  seven  cents  a  quart,  and  three  hundred  and  sixty- 
one  pounds  of   butter,  average  price  thirty-three  cents  a  pound 


i  ;i  it  K 
!  i 


36 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


Ill 


These  have  amounted  to  a  cash  expenditure  of  one  hundred  and 
thu-teen  dollars  and  sixty-four  cents  a  year,  which  was  a  decided 
surprise  to  nie,  and  feeling  pretty  sure  the  expense  need  not  exceed 
two  dollars  a  week,  I  yielded  to  the  argument ;  am  the  owner  of 
a  cow,  and  Iktc  record  the  result  of  my  experiment.  One  of  the 
pleasant  spruig  days  of  last  week,  wo  took  a  drive  among  the  farms 
of  the  vicinity,  and  selected  a  good  looking'  cow  which  had  just 
dropped  her  second  calf.  The  price  paid  was  sixty-tive  dollars,  to 
be  delivered  to  me  to-day,  without  the  calf.  The  man  I  bought  of 
called  her  *'  pure  Alderney,"  but  she  looks  large  of  her  age  for 
that  race,  weighing  somewhat  over  seven  hundred  pounds,  and  if, 
two  or  three  generations  back  there  was  a  cross  of  Ayrshire,  or  of 
Guernsey,  it  is  all  the  better.  My  belief  Is  that  she  has  a  streak  of 
Ayrshire  blood,  and  that  she  will  make  a  fine  cow.  Being  three 
years  old  next  month  (exact  date  unknown),  it  has  been  decided 
that  our  cow  is  to  be  known  as  "June." 

May  IsT,  1876.— When  "  June  "  was  bought,  it  was  in  the  full 
expectation  that  pasturage  could  be  hired  in  a  small  lot  adjoining 
the  rear  of  mine.  I  supposed  it  was  fixed,  but  the  spring  had 
been  favorable,  the  grass  on  the  meadow  promised  well,  and  the 
owner  coiickuled  he  would  mow  it,  so  that  arrangement  fell 
through.  By  that  time  I  was  too  late  to  secure  room  in  the  only 
pasture  convenient  to  the  village,  and  I  have  been  forced  to  keep 
her  in  the  stable  and  a  small  stable  yard,  the  whole  year.  The 
result  is  more  than  satisfactory,  considering  the  disadvantageous 
circumstances. 

A  year  ago  to-day  "June"  arrived,  in  fair  condition,  save  that 
her  coat  looke  I  a  little  rough,  and  with  a  good  bag  of  milk  ;  her 
daily  yield  that  month  was  about  twelve  quarts.  In  a  day  or  two 
I  noticed  that  when  in  the  yard,  she  rubbed  her  neck  vigorously 
against  the  corner  of  the  stable  and  sometimes  backed  up  to  a  build- 
ing or  fence  for  the  purpose.  An  examination  proved  that  she 
had  vermin  upon  her:  so  I  made  a  pail  full  of  strong  suds,  with 
soft  soap,  and  put  into  it  an  ounce  of  sulphuric  acid,  and  with  this 
I  sponged  the  parts  infested,  twice  daily,  for  a  few  days.  This 
seemed  efficient  and  there  has  been  no  such  trouble  since. 

For  long  forage  "  June  "  had  only  dry  food,  good  fine  hay,  until 
late  in  May,  and  then  I  began  to  give  her  a  green  bite  whenever  I 
could,  clippings  from  the  yard,  trimmings  of  early  vegetables  and 
whatever  there  was  to  spare  from  tlie  garden.  Besides  this,  every- 
tliing  she  ate  had  to  be  bought,  except  a  few  roots  used  since 
February.    A  little  bran  was  fed  for  the  first  few  days,  and  gradu- 


KEEPIKO   OKE   COW. 


87 


i»»  Tj,.t„i,.i,i,„,,. ,.,„  .i„.„j.  „  ,,.^j;; 

In  my  garden  I  made  a  larsre  narsnln  hnri   «« i  *  n 
were  opened  <lurinir  a  thaw  in  Fohvnarv  LfTf       .  J      ^°''"''''' 

coat  a  bright,  lliriftr  look  anrl  ,P  n  7    "PP'"^""  ™.  Smng  her 
which  is  «p  .ctcd  S  ten  ciav"      B,  f  M  r'"""""  '^  '^'"'""«. 

^.ao  to  ha4  a  r^t'CCnt,  Tl'ttrarife  '172' 
once  a  dayfand  oncol^tol^r  Waforlrw  'V'"."  T'^ 

amount  of  bedding  has  been  necessary,  amrfor  t  ,^1  l.vt  T 
the  waste  hay,  the  railings  of  the  yard  last  nuhm.n  ,,  ''"''' 

of  the  garden  walks,  garden  littef  ami  fl  eT„T  ',  '™P'"S" 
maple  trees  in  front  ^f  the  house  care  ,1  v  J  T:  'T  *  ■'''"'  "' 
So  much  in  the  stall  "r„n„  "        """^.^'y  s"'"'  <<"  the  purpose. 


'I 

'  i-f 
Ml 


ti       i    ;(ti 


38 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


The  roflult  of  this  continuous  HUibVmn;  Ims  been  a  rapid  nmimu- 
latlon  of  niiinurc,  and  tliis  having  been  mixed  willj  all  llic  Huitable 
refuse  of  the  phice,  and  forked  over  several  times,  1  this  sprmg 
have  on  hand  a  huge  pile  of  rich  compost.  It  is  mon;  than  can 
be  used  on  the  irarden,  and  the  newer  imrt  has  been  corded  up 
under  a  temporary  shed  for  sale  or  future  use.  This  alone  well 
pays  for  all  my  extra  work  in  keeping  tlie  cow,  as  I  have  yearly 
been  obliged  to  k»;iy  for  the  garden. 

Our  plan  during  tlie  year  has  been  to  sell  a  little  milk  to  neigh- 
bors, set  asile  two  (puirts  daily  for  family  use,  creaui  and  all. 
The  cream  from  thv  remainder  lias  been  made  into  butter,  and  an 
accurate  ac(u)unt  kept  of  the  butter  produced. 

The  following  is  the  result  of  this  first  year  keeping  one  cow: 


KXPENSES : 

Interest  7  piTct-nt  on  cost  of  cow.f  4. 

4  tons  or  lliiy,  «v.  %iO «). 

500  IbH  OiitH  in  Htniw .; ■*■ 

HtlO  IhH.  Wlieiit  Bnin,  @  jSia.) '  1  • 

3501hH.  Oorii-Moal@,tfl.lO 3 

4  buB.  Oat«  @  5r)C *■ 

Expended SUM! 

Lo88  40(1 11)8.  Hay  on  hand 3 

Year's  cxpeuae K^-J 


:J 


retuunb:  ^  ^^  „. 

155  qts.  Milk  Hold  &  Tc $  10.86 

an  qts.  Skiui-mllk,  @  3c "■»J3 

Sales SaO-18 

(120  qt«.  Milk  for  family,  @  7c. . ..    48.40 
123  lb«.  Butter  niiide,®  85c        ■•    43.05 

Ycar'H  return $HX).(}8 

Memorandum -Cost...  .$10:137 

Lesssales 20.18      83.19 


Plus  purchaHcs— 
gSatH.  Milk 


6.16 


gSqtH.  Milk 6.16 

5-21bs.  Butter l<>o» 

Cow  products  cost  family.  $105^ 

Here  is  a  net  balance  of  three  dollars  and  twenty-si.x  cents  in 
favor  of  the  cow,  without  allowing  anything  for  the  abundant 
supply  of  skim-milk  and  butter  milk  which  has  been  profitably 
used  in  the  poultry  yard  as  well  as  at  the  house— or  for  the  big 
compost  heap,  which  could  readily  be  sold. 

The  figures  also  show  that  the  family  has  had  a  better  supply  of 
cow  products  than  last  year,  at  seven  dollars  and  sixty -five  cents 
less  expense.  No  labor  is  charged,  for  I  am  not  so  much  keeping 
an  exact  account  of  the  maintenance  of  the  cow,  as  of  the  profit 
of  my  keeping  one,  taking  care  of  her  myself.  And  no  credit  is 
given  for  manure,  as  I  mean  to  apply  that  to  reducing  the  cost  of 
keeping  in  the  future.  The  cow  might  have  been  fed  at  less  cost, 
but  I  intended  to  have  her  improve  on  my  hands,  and  she  has  done 
so.  "  June  "  now  weighs  seven  hundred  and  sixty-two  pounds,  is 
about  to  have  her  third  calf,  and  is  certainly  worth  more  than  was 

paid  for  her. 

Altogether,  in  spite  of  unfavorable  conditions  there  is  uo  occa- 
sion to  complain  of  the  result  of  the  year. 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


80 


May  l8T,  1877.— Last  Bi)ring,  my  ncigbbor,  north,  was  willing  to 
let  inc  have  his  acre  and  a  half  of  meadow  for  pjisturago,  but 
wanted  thirty-five  dollars  for  the  season.  1  wonld  not  pay  that, 
and,  instead,  hired  a  place  for  "June"  in  a  largt  pasture  half  a 
mile  or  more  distant,  paying  twenty  dollars  for  the  season.  May 
fifteentij,  to  October  fifteenth,  and  four  dollars  to  a  boy  for  driv- 
ing. On  the  ninth  of  May,  the  cow  dropped  a  bull  calf  without 
diftlculty,  and  I  gave  it  away  the  next  day.  No  special  care  was 
neculed  or  given,  except  a  little  caution  as  to  feeding,  and  on  the  fif- 
teenth the  cow  went  to  pasture.  She  did  remarkably  well  until 
early  in  July,  bemg  in  pasture  during  the  day,  and  at  the  stable  at 
night.  Then  the  weather  grew  very  hot,  the  pasture  dry,  and  "June" 
began  to  fail  rapidly  in  her  milk;* so  I  commenced  feeding  a  little 
bran,  and  offered  hay  when  she  came  up  at  night.  Later,  a  friend 
recommended  cotton-seed  meal,  and  a  hundred  W(!ight  of  that  was 
obtained  and  fed  with  good  results,  two  or  three  pounds  a  day. 
August  was  a  month  of  intense  dry  heat,  and  the  pasture  became 
of  little  use  except  for  the  exercise,  shade,  and  water.  In  spite  of 
meal  and  hay  fed  at  night,  "  June's  "  yield  of  milk  shrank  to  three 
quarts  a  day,  and  we  feared  she  would  go  dry.  August  fifth, 
I  made  the  change  of  sending  her  to  pasture  just  before  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening,  as  the  boy  went  after  the  other  cows,  and 
bringing  her  up  to  the  stable  in  the  morning,  where  I  kept  her 
during  the  day.  Tiiis  was  an  improvement,  and  also  gave  better 
opportunity  of  feeding  sweet  corn  stalks,  vegetable  trimmings  and 
the  like,  fresh  from  the  garden.  The  grain  was  continued  through 
August,  and  she  ate  more  or  less  hay.  At  the  end  of  the  month 
she  was  giving  over  a  gallon  of  milk  a  day  Rains  came  early  in 
September,  the  pasturage  soon  became  good  again,  and  the  daily 
mess  of  milk  steadily  increased  until  November.  By  that  time 
she  was  in  the  stable  for  the  winter,  and  the  treatment  since  has 
been  practically  a  repetition  of  last  year.  My  root  patch  jn  the 
garden  was  enlarged,  as  the  result  of  last  year's  experience,  and 
accordingly  I  put  eight  or  ten  bushels  of  carrots  into  my  cellar  in 
October,  covering  them  with  sand,  and  left  a  fine  lot  of  parsnips 
in  the  ground.  I  began  feeding  the  carrots  in  January,  two  or 
three  a  day,  just  for  a  relish ;  gradually  increased  them,  until  in 
February  the  cow  received  half  a  peck  or  more,  and  thus  they 
lasted  into  March.  Then  1  dried  her  off,  getthig  the  last  milk  to 
use  March  twenty-eighth.  Grain  feeding  was  stopped  the  first  of 
March  and  she  has  had  none  sincf  =  Aftfr  the  cow  was  fully  dry, 
I  began  on  the  parsnips,  and  she  is  now  getting  half  a  peck  daily. 


^IJi 


i  m 


i# 


40 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


with  all  the  hay  she  will  eat.  "  June  "  will  be  fresh  again  On  the 
twentictli  of  this  month. 

The  season  has  not  satisfied  me.  Not  only  has  the  weather  been 
Unfavorable,  (we  must  expect  severe  summers  occasionally,)  but  1 
don't  like  sending  the  cow  to  a  distant  pasture  which  I  can  know 
very  little  about,  and  where  nobody  knowG  how  the  other  animals 
treat  her.  I  shall  never  do  this  again  if  any  other  arrangement 
can  be  made. 

The  account  f oi  the  year  is  as  follows : 


Expenses. 
Interest  at  7  per  cent,  on  cost  of 

cow |4 ,  55 

Hay  from  last  year 3. 00 

2i  tons  a  imothy  Hay  ®  ;i^l8 45.00 


Rbtttrns, 

42  qts  Milk  sold  at  f^c $2  73 

286  qts.  Sklm-railk  sold  at  3c 8.58 

Sales $nTsi 

Snt"1vh<;k%"aT|*V.l^^^  15  ^"'»^^«-  Better  made®  32C ^.88 

45011)H  Ccrn-Meal®*] 4.50,    Year's  returns |87.7'J 

100  lbs.  Cotton-seed  Afeal ^SMJO'^emorandum-Cost $89.30    " " 

Expended $1)1.30  Less  sales...  11.81     77  99 

Lc^shayonhand...., _JLi>0  Plus  purchases-  

Year's  expense $89,301    86  qts.  Milk  ®  Jijc $  6  .59 

'  70  lbs.  Butter  @  30c 21.00 

Cow  products  cost  family T$l64.58 

Comparing  this  with  last  year's  statement,  it  will  be  seen  that 
although  there  is  a  small  balance  against  the  cow,  she  is  still,  all 
things  considered,  a  profitable  part  of  the  domestic  establishment. 

Mat  1st,  1878. — Dissatisfied  with  the  last  yi  ar's  management, 
and  seeing  that  there  would  last  spring  be  a  large  surplus  of  fine 
compost  on  hand,  more  profitable  to  use  than  to  sell,  I  planned  a 
new  arrangement  in  the  autumn  of  1876  for  keeping  my  one  cow. 
First,  I  secured  the  meadow  west  of  my  lot,  renting  it  from  the 
owner  from  October  first,  1876,  until  April  first,  this  year,  for  thirty 
dollars.  The  acre  and  a  half  yielded  about  two  tons  of  hay  in 
1876,  but  no  rowen ;  the  aftermath  was  good,  however,  when  I 
came  in  possession.  The  south  end  of  it,  although  in  good  heart, 
was  weedy  and  uneven.  I  drove  some  strong  stakes,  and  ran  a 
wire  fence  across,  in  continuation  of  my  southern  boundary,  thus 
cutting  off  just  about  a  quarter  of  an  acre  in  rear  of  my  neighbor, 
south.  This  piece  I  dressed  with  compost  made  the  summer  just 
preceding,  and  had  it  plowed  and  cross-plowed  before  the  ground 
froze,  in  preparation  for  a  root  crop.  The  soil  is  a  deep,  mellow, 
sandy  loam,  but  rich.  Last  spring  the  new  root  patch  was  plowed 
once,  well  dressed  from  the  compost  pile  of  1875-6,  and  that  har- 
rowed in.  (There  was  enough  of  the  same  compost  for  my  gar- 
den, and  to  spare,  so  last  June  there  was  still  on  hand  the  manure 
of  about  a  year's  collection  put  up  in  good  shape.)    The  rest  of 


KEIEPINO  ONE  COW. 


41 


I  n 
I  Tt 


the  work  I  was  able  to  do  myself.    My  root-garden,  laid  out  in 
rows  running  north  and  south,  was  divided  as  follows:   eight 
square  rods  of  parsnips  next  to  neighbor,  south,  on  the  slope 
where  they  caught  the  wash  from  his  garden ;  twelve  square  rods 
of  carrots  and  ten  rods  of  mangolds;   in  the  point  west  to  the 
stream  I  put  sweet  corn  at  firs!,  and  followed  it  with  strap-'eafed 
tirnips,  ten  square  rods.     Without  going  into  the  details  of  root- 
culture,  which  any  one  who  has  made  a  good  garden  knows  all 
about,  I  put  into  my  house  cellar  last  fall  fifty-two  bushels  of 
Long  Orange  Carrots,  and  over  forty  bushels  of  Long  Yellow 
Mangel  Wurzels  (these  monstroub,  twisted,  forked  roots  are  awk- 
ward things  to  measure,  but  there  must  have  been  a  ton  or  more 
In  weight),  left  in  the  ground  from  twenty  to  twenty-five  bushels 
of  Hollow-crowned  Parsnips,  and  harvested  thirty-six  bushels  of 
English  Turnips.    This  was  more  than  I  had  bargained  for.    I  see 
now  that  roots  enough  might  have  been  raised  in  my  old  garden 
and  the  parsnips  would  have  done  much  better  there,  but  I  sold 
twenty  bushels  each  of  carrots  and  turnips  for  more  than  enough 
to  cover  all  expenditures  for  seed  and  hired  labor. 

A  year  ago  to-day,  I  turned  "  June  »  into  her  new  pasture  of  an 
acre  and  a  quarter;  the  grass  was  then  starting  well,  and  I  pre- 
ferred to  have  the  change  gradual.  She  ate  more  or  less  hay  until 
the  end  of  the  month.  Doors  and  gates  were  so  fixed  that  she 
could  be  in  stall,  yard,  or  pasture  at  pleasure,  and  could  drink  at 
the  stream  bordering  the  meadow. 

CALVING  AND  AFTER-TEEATMENT. 

On  the  eighteenth  of  May,  her  bag  began  to  swell,  and  became 
feverish.    A  quart  or  two  of  watery  milk  was  drawn  at  intervals  of 
eight  hours  for  the  next  three  days,  and  the  udder  was  bathed  as 
often  m  tepid  water,  and  gently  but  thoroughly  rubbed  with  goose 
oil,  in  which  camphor-gum  had  been  dissolved.     Each  day  also 
she  was  given  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  Epsom  Salts,  dissolved  in  a 
quart  of  "  tea  "  made  from  poke-weed  root  {Phytolacca  decandra) 
whicli  all  druggists  now  keep  in  store  ;  this  was  administered  as  a 
'  drench,"  from  a  bottle,  her  head  being  held  up  while  she  swallow- 
ed It,    On  the  morning  of  the  twenty-second,  being  two  days  over- 
due, she  calved,  having  a  hard  time,  but  producing  without  help  a 
fine  large  heifer.    Very  soon  after,  I  gave  her  a  bucket  of  cool  (not 
cold)  water,  m  which  was  stiirea  a  quart  of  wheat  bran,  a  half 
pound  of  Imseed-meal,  previously  scalded,  and  a  handful  of  pulver- 
ized poke  or  garget  root.    This  mess  was  repeated  at  noon  and 


ill 


&   M 


1 


4J3 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


I! 


naturally  passed 


tlie  bag  milked  dry.    A  lit^.Ie  later,  the  after-bi 
off  and  was  removed.    The  uddor  remained 
tender  that  when  the  calf  sucked  I  had  to  protect  it  from  the 
mother's  kicks,  and  also  to  prevent  it  from  taking  one  teat  which 
was  extremely  sore.     From  this  quarter  I  carefully  drew  the  milk 
with  one  of  a  set  of  four  "  niilking-tubcs,"  which  I  bought  two 
years  ago  to  do  my  milking,  but  soon  discarded ;  here  they  came 
in  use,  just  the  thing  wanted,  but  one  as  good  as  four.    At  night  I 
milked  dry,  gave  a  dose  of  half  a  pound  of  Salts,  with  one  ounce  of 
Nitre,  and  a  warm  Bran-mash.    The  bag  was  well  rubbed  as  before. 
The  cow  ate  some  hay  during  the  night,  and  a  few  cabbage  sprouts 
in  the  morning.    That  day  (twenty-third),  she  was  on  the  pasture  a 
little  while,  and  had  a  full  bag  of  milk,  but  still  hot  and  tender. 
The  calf  was  separated  from  the  cow  at  daylight,  and  allowed  to 
suck  four  times  during  the  day,  the  bag  being  milked  dry,  and 
then  oiled  and  well  rubbed  every  time.    The  bowels  appearing  to 
be  in  a  sufficiently  active  state,  appetite  improving,  and  her  eyes 
natural,  the  physic  was  discontinued,  the  cow  allowed  to  eat  grass 
and  hay  at  will,  and  for  several  days  the  calf  sucked  at  daylight, 
noon,  and  dark,  the  milk  left  by  it  being  all  drawn.    The  bag  was 
rubbed  and  anointed  two  or  three  times  a  day,  and  a  little  extract 
of  Belladonna  added  to  the  od  used.    Under  this  treatment  the  in- 
flammation gradually  subsided.    As  soon  as  the  cow  would  allow 
her  calf  to  take  the  tenderest  teat,  I  kept  it  on  that  side  as  much 
as  possible  while  sucking.   At  the  end  of  a  week  after  calving,  the 
udder  was  again  in  sound  condition.    The  calf  was  kept  until  the 
first  of  June,  and  then  the  owner  of  its  sire  took  it  in  full  for  ser- 
vice of  bull  three  seasons.     We  then  began  to  get  the  full  flow  of 
milk,  and  the  pasture  being  good,  it  was  a  fine  mess  daily.     At 
that  time,  I  began  to  measure  the  m'r  ,  and  have  done  so  ever 
since.     "June"  gave  four  hundred   and  eighty-two  quarts  the 
month  she  was  five  years  old,  an  average  of  sixteen  quarts  a  day. 
Until  the  last  of  July,  the  cow  got  all  her  food  from  the  pasture, 
and  one  acre  would  have  done  as  well  as  one  and  a  quarter.    For 
the  next  five  or  six  weeks,  the  grass  was  hardly  sufficient ;  it  was, 
for  this  period,  based  upon  the  experience  of  August,  1876,  that 
the  corn  had  been  provided.    The  ten  rods  of  Mammoth  Sweet, 
three  hundred  and  fifty  to  four  hundred  hills,  had  been  put  in  at  five. 
different  plantings,  a  week  apart,  and  the  earliest  was  just  forming 
ears  the  last  of  July  when  I  began  using  it,  at  first  once  a  day, 
then  twice.    For  each  feed,  the  whole  plants  of  three  or  four  hills 
were  taken,  and  chopped  in  a  straw-cutter,  ears  and  all,  into  two- 
inch  lengths.   This  was  eaten  with  great  relish,  and  during  August 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


43 


the  cow  spent  most  of  the  daytime  standing  in  the  stream  where 
shaded  by  trees  and  grazed  at  night.  The  pasturage  improved 
again  bcT  )r3  the  corn  gave  out,  so  quite  a  nice  piece  of  winter 
fodder  was  saved  from  the  piece-  Then  all. through  September 
there  was  every  day  more  or  less  of  green-corn  husks,  carrot  and 
beet  tops,  other  vegetable  and  fruit  trimmings,  clean  refuse  from 
house  and  garden,  good  food  for  the  cow,  so  that  again  one  acre 
of  pasture  would  have  sufficed.  During  October,  the  carrots  and 
mangolds  were  harvested,  and  their  tops  gave  the  cow  more  than 
she  could  manage.  I  also  began  feeding  turnips  the  last  of  Octo- 
ber, a  few  with  mangel  tops  at  first,  increasing  until  she  ate  more 
than  half  a  bushel  a  day,  tops  and  all.  Before  the  ground  froze, 
the  turnips  were  piled  in  the  barn,  without  trimming,  and  covered 
with  hay ;  were  kept  safely  until  the  last  were  fed,  November 
twenty-eighth.  The  problem  of  winter  feeding  really  came  up  the 
first  of  November.  I  had  a  large  supply  of  roots  on  hand  of  my 
own  raising,  and  the  hay  and  grain  to  buy.  So  1  went  to  the  books, 
and  after  studying  both  practice  and  science,  decided  upon  the 
following  daily  rations  for  the  next  six  months:  November  first  to 
May  first,  fifteen  pounds  of  meadow  rowen  and  clover  hay,  in  about 
equal  parts ;  one  pound  each  of  coarse  wheat  bran  and  corn-meal, 
mixed.  During  November,  one-half  bushel  turnips  and  two 
pounds  cotton-seed  meal ;  December  and  January,  one-half  bushel 
carrots  and  one  and  one-half  pound  cotton-seed  meal ;  February  and 
March,  one-half  bushel  (or  more)  of  mangels  and  one  pound  cot- 
ton-seed meal;  April,  one-half  bushel  parsnips  and  one  and  one- 
half  pounds  cotton-seed  meal;  also,  one  hundred  pounds  addi- 
tional hay,  and  my  corn-stalks,  for  February  and  March. 

This  plan  has  been  carried  out  with  little  variation.  Of  course 
the  food  has  not  been  accurately  weighed  daily.  The  grain  por- 
tions, kept  in  barrels,  have  been  dipped  out  with  tin  cups,  but  have 
held  out  just  about  as  expected ;  the  quantity  of  hay  and  roots 
has  been  guessed  at. 

THE   METHOD   OF   FEEDING 

and  other  work  at  the  stable  during  the  winter  has  been  this: 
Between  aix  and  seven  o'clock  a.  m.  stall  cleaned,  cow  brushed  off", 
bedding  and  absorbents  fixed,  the  milking  done,  and  then  a  feed 
of  six  or  seven  pounds  of  chaffed  hay,  slightly  moistened,  and  the 
bran  and  meal  mixed  with  it.  After  this,  a  bucket  of  water  left 
in  the  stall,  except  in  the  coldest  weather.  The  bucket  is  fixed  near 
the  feed-box,  so  it  can  not  be  tipi)cd  over,  and  it  has  generally  been 


44 


KEEPIN<i   ONE  COW* 


found  empty  at  noon.  At  that  hour,  the  fogular  Watering,  two  of 
three  pailfuls,  and  then  a  small  hunch  of  hay  thrown  in  the  hox; 
the  stall  cleaned  also.  Between  six  and  seven  at  night,  the  milk* 
ing  done  and  bedding  fixed,  the  roots  fed,  chopped  up  pretty  fine 
with  a  spade,  and  the  cotton-seed  meal  sprinkled  over  them.  Hay 
then  given,  and  the  cow  left  for  the  night. 

It  was  my  intention  to  feed  the  roots  in  tWO  parts,  morning  and 
night,  and  I  should  have  preferred  this,  but  my  time  in  the  morn- 
ing was  limited.  Preparing  the  roots  over  night,  they  sometimes 
froze,  but  I  could  cut  the  hay  at  evening,  ready  for  the  morning 
chop-feed.  As  one  kind  of  root  was  about  to  give  out,  some  of 
the  next  to  be  fed  were  mixed  in,  and  thus  sudden  changes 
avoided.  The  extra  hay  and  stalks  calculated  for  February  and 
March  were  not  used  exactly  in  those  months,  but  consumed 
during  severely  cold  and  windy  spells,  being  added  to  the  usual 
noon  and  night  portions.  At  all  times,  the  cow  had,  under  this 
plan,  full  as  much  as  shq  was  ready  to  eat  up  clean.  The  hay 
left  on  hand  a  year  ago  was  all  used  last  summer,  and  before  No- 
vember a  full  load  each  of  the  best  rowen  and  clover  hay  were 
put  into  Lhe  barn,  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  one  thousand 
four  hundred  pounds  respectively,  and  there  is  a  little  left. 

It  ought  also  to  be  mentioned  that  while  the  cow  was  mainly 
fed  on  sweet  corn,  last  July  and  August,  I  was  obliged  to  add 
about  two  pounds  of  cotton-seed  meal  a  day,  to  give  quality  to 
the  milk;  it  was  fed  dry,  at  noon.  As  soon  as  the  feeding  of  car- 
rot tops  began,  this  meal  was  omitted,  but  it  was  again  needed 
when  turnips  were  substituted  for  carrot  and  beet  tops.  The  ra- 
tion of  mangolds  was  increased  to  about  two  bushels  in  three 
days,  because  there  were  plenty  of  them,  and  my  house  cellar 
being  rather  warm,  they  commenced  to  rot.  I  was  very  careful 
to  give  the  cow  only  sound  roots.  This  extra  food  in  February 
and  March  resulted  in  a  better  milk  record  by  "  June  "  than  in  the 
two  months  next  preceding.  I  shall  feed  more  roots  the  coming 
year.  There  were  more  parsnips  than  could  be  well  used ;  they 
were  not  needed  until  April,  and  I  sol  1  five  dollars'  worth,  as  an 
oflFsct  to  what  the  cow  got  from  last  j  ear's  kitchen  garden.  The 
cow  goes  on  to  pasture  to-daj'. 

Therefore,  in  review,  tLe  cow  has  been  carried  through  the  year 
with  the  one  and  one-half  acres  rented  for  thirty  dollars,  and 
forty-five  dollars  expended  for  hay  and  grain.  Against  the  ma- 
nure taken  for  my  garden  may  be  placed  the  cleanings  of  the 
poultry  house,  the  contents  of  the  earth-closet,  and  the  garden 


EEEPIIfG   ONE  COW. 


45 


refuse  and  bedding,  all  of  which  go  into  the  compost  heap.    The 
item  of  labor  alone  remains,  and  as  all  that  has  been  hired  (includ- 
ing the  plowing  of  the  garden)  was  paid  from  sales  of  surplus 
roots,  no  further  account  is  taken  of  that ;  my  own  time  was  well 
spent,  as  the  balance  sheet  shows.     Last  August,  we  fully  deter- 
mined that  it  would  be  better  for  the  family  cow  to  be  fresh  in 
September  than  in  the  spring.    The  heat  of  summer  is  the  time 
when  it  is  most  difficult  to  keep  a  cow  properly  fed  for  a  good 
flow  of  rich  milk  on  a  little  place  like  this.     It  is  the  time  when 
milk  is  plenty  and  cheap,  if  one  wants  to  buy,  and  most  difficult 
to  manage  or  dispose  of  if  one  has  much  on  hand.     It  is  almost 
impossible  to  make  good  butter  in  dog-days,  livmg  as  we  do,  witli 
no  special  appliances,  and  it  is  not  worth  while  for  us  to  get  a 
patent  creamer  and  a  supply  of  ice.     In  the  spring,  we  don't  want 
a  dry  cow,  but  are  willing  to  have  one  in  August.    July,  with  its 
increasing  heat  and  decreasing  pasturage,  is  a  favorable  time  to 
dry  off  a  cow.    The  keeper  of  one  cow  can  not  afford  to  have  her 
dry  more  than  six  weeks  m  the  year,  and  may  manage  to  have 
this  period  four  weeks,  or  even  less.  Accordingly,  I  have  arranged 
for  "  June  "  to  come  in  next  September,  and  shall*  in  future  practice 
"winter-dairying."    Indeed,  we  have  done  so  the  past  season,  for 
with  liberal  feeding  of  a  succulent  character,  the  cow  has  held  out 
well  in  her  milk.    She  is  now  giving  between  five  and  six  quarts 
a  day,  while  not  yet  on  grass,  and  her  total  yield  for  eleven 
months,  since  June  first  (or  rather  for  the  year),  is  found  to  be  two 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-six  quarts.    Here  is  my  third 
year's  annual  account  with  "  June : " 


Expenses. 
Interest  at  7  per  cent,  on  cost  of 

cow I  4 

Rent  of  H  acres  of  land 30 

Hay  left  from  last  year .'    2 

li  tons  of  Hay  bought 28 

350  lbs.  of  Cotton-seiid  Meel  and 

freight 6 

159  lbs.  Corn-Meal i 

200  lbs.  Brar.  @  $1.15  per  cwt    . .    2. 

Year's  expense Its' 


Retttbns.- 

685  qts.  Milk  sold  at  tic $4110 

.55  464qts.  Skim-milk  sold  at  2*0. ..     11.60 

xJJi    Sales «f52  70 

•^670  qts.  Milk  used  ©Vic'.;;;  ■.■.;;    40 

127  Ids.  Butter  made  @  30c 3H.  10 


50  ?IS  ,^*^'  ¥'^^  ^^^"^  ®  <'c 40:20 

°",  127  Ids.  Butter  made  @  30c 3H.10 

Year's  return .$131.00 


Memorandum- 
Cost  keeping $75.65 

Lt'^'ssales 52.70   $22.95 

Plus  purchases— 

55  qts.  Milk  (S^  6c 3  30 

53  lbs.  Butter®  30c, ."...  js^go 

Cow  products  cost  family $42.15 

.R..  iv,^n-^r^t.x:-u  pivriit  wi  liit^  -nvu  dcjihirs  irom  the  cow  is  shown 
and  a  still  larger  saving  in  family  expenses,  besides  nine  hundred 
quarts  of  skim-milk  and  butter-milk  used  in  the  house  and  poul- 
try-yard and  given  away.  The  yield  of  the  cow  shows  "  June  "  to  bQ 


i  M: 


46 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


a  superior  animal,  and  that  is  what  the  keeper  of  one  cow  should 
have,  for  it  costs  little  more  in  food  and  care  than  an  ordinary 
one.    But  if  the  cow  had  heen  only  of  medium  quality  and  no  new 


I 


IIEICHBOR  SOUTH. 


6  RODS 


1^^ACRES  MEADOW. 


6  RODS 


□ 


NEIGHBOR  NORTH. 


yi 


S  RODS 


Fig.  4,— PLAN  OF  VILLAGE  LOT  AND  SURROUNDINGS. 

m\\k  conld  be  sold,  it  would  have  been  a  profitable  operation^ 
And  if,  instead  of  sellinc;  new  milh,  as  much  butter  had  been  made 
as  possible,  there  would  still  have  resulted  a  balance  of  over 
twenty  dollars  in  favor  of  the  cow. 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


4? 


May  IsT,  1880.— (To  come  within  the  required  limits  of  this 
paper  the  journal  of  tlie  last  two  years  must  be  condensed. 
Therefore,  omitting  detaded  descriptions,  the  general  facts  are 

given,  and  some  opinions 
derived  from  the  five  years 
recorded.)  For  the  year 
ending  May,  1879,  the 
method  of  keeping  "June  " 
was  much  the  same  as  in 
that  last  described,  but 
more  roots  were  raised  and 
fed  ;  some  hay  was  made, 
jtnd  only  straw  and  grain 
food  puifhascd.  The  re- 
sult was  even  better  than 
that  shown  by  the  last 
account.  During  the  year 
just  ended,  the  fifth  since 


Fig.  5.  —EAST   END  OB  STABLE  IN    1870. 


"  Juuc  '  was  bought,  I  tried  soding,  keeping  the  cow  in  stall  and 

yard  almost  all  the  time,  and  have  actually  got  through  without 

buying  hay  or  straw,  usmg  only  one  acre  and  a  quarter  to  produce 

all  the  long  forage  needed.    There  is  so  much  left  over  that  I  am 

satisfied  one  acre  well  managed,  the  preparation  beginning  the 

previous  fall,  can  be  made  to  support  my  cow,  with  the  exception 

of  the  grain  food  and  part  of  the  roots.    But  this  requires  more 

time  for  labor  than  I  can 

give,   and    more    manure 

than  one  cow  makes.     I 

have  had  to  buy  fertilizers 

during  the  last  two  years, 

and  although  they  were 

good,  I   prefer  hereafter 

to   buy   food   and  make 

manure,  rather  than  buy 

manures   to  make   food. 

For  one  situated  as  I  am, 

a  semi-soiling  system,  or 

limited  pasturage  helped 


IMANURE  SHED 

OPEN  TO  THE 
SOUTH 


HARNESS 

ANO 
FEED  ROOM 


HORSE 
STALL 


CARRIAGEHOUSE 
AND 

STORAGE 

(hay  above) 


Fig.  6.— PLAN  OP  STABLE   IN  1870. 


out  with  other  food,  Is  better,  even  if  more  food  is  bought.  I 
can  be  surer  of  what  I  purchase,  and  thus  use  the  one  cow  to 
better  advantage. 

The  only  secret  of  home-made  manure  is  to  save  everything,  es- 
pecially all  liquids,  mix  everything  as  already  explained,  fork  over 


TI  f  M 


48 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


' : 


Fig.  7.— SOUTH  SIDE  OF  STABLE  AS 

JlDAFtbd  fob  poultry  in  1871-6. 


Fig.  8.— PLAN  op  stablb, 
1871-5. 


Figs.  9  and  10.— east  and  south  elevations  op  stable,  as  ohanqbd 

POB  POULTKY  AND  COW  IN  1875. 


POULTR_Y  HOUSE 
lOft.xlSft. 

(no  floor) 


Fig.  11,— MAIN  FLOOR  PLAN  AS  CHANGED  FOR  COW  IN  1875, 


KEEPING  ONE  OOW. 


49 


and  keep  compact,  to  make  a  liomogenous  compost,  and  keep  all 
under  r^ver  until  used.  A  very  slight  and  cheap  protecting  shed 
Will  suffice.  " 

As  to  housing,  I  began  with  a  plain  frame  stable  found  upon 


Fig.  18.— FRONT  ELEVATION  AS  CHANGED  IN   1878. 


the  place,  made  originally  for  one  horse  and  a  buggy,  and  have 
gradually  changed  and  added  to  it,  doing  most  of  the  work  myself 
until  a  very  satisfactory  building  has  resulted.    It  contains  room' 


rig.  Id.— PLAN  OP  BAHN  BASEMENT  WITH  NEW  STONE  FOUNDATIONS,  1878. 


enough  for  a  year's  forage,  includmg  root-cellar,  a  warm,  dry 
stall,  conveniently  arranged  for  saving  labor,  ample  shed-room  for 
compost,  an.    a  sheltered  yard  contammg  five  or  six  square  rods 
3  ' 


^ 


\i     !| 


1/ 


60 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


which  is  as  good  as  more.  There  is  running  water  in  the  yard. 
Tlie  plans  accompanying  this  article,  figs.  5  to  13  inclusive,  show 
these  arrangements  better  than  any  description  in  writing. 

"  June  "  had  her  fifth  calf  September  sixth,  1878,  and  her  sixth 
exactly  a  year  later.  At  the  fiftli  calving  there  was  a  "  false  presen- 
tation," and  a  very  serious  time.  No  competent  veterinarian  was 
within  reach,  or  else  one  would  have  been  ccMed.  As  it  was,  I 
looked  up  the  subject  in  back  volumes  of  agricultural  papers 
and  other  publications,  went  to  work  myself,  and  getting  the  calf 
into  proper  position,  succeeded  in  eflFecting  a  delivery  without 
serious  consequences.  Last  September's  calf  was  a  heifer,  and 
by  a  fine  sire,  so,  as  "  June  "  has  reached  her  prime,  if  not  passed 
it,  I  am  raising  this  calf  to  make  a  new  cow  to  succeed  the  worthy 
dam.  Most  keepers  of  one  cow,  however,  are  so  situated  that  they 
had  better  dispose  of  calves  at  once.  Making  veal  is  not  as  profit- 
able as  making  butter,  and  feeding  skim-milk  to  children  and 
chickens.  , 

In  order  to  have  the  products  of  the  cow  perfectly  satisfactory, 
I  lay  great  stress  upoa  the  utmost  care  and  cleanliness  in  milking. 
First,  see  that  the  stall  and  all  about  it  is  in  order,  pure  air,  and 
no  dust  flying,  and  the  udder  and  flank  of  the  cow  quite  clean. 
Except  in  the  coldest  weather,  tlie  udder  is  sponged  off  with  tepid 
water,  and  wiped  dry,  just  before  milking.  Then  I  trust  no  one 
to  milk  for  me,  but  do  it  myself,  quietly,  quickly,  and  completely, 
milking  into  a  funnel,  which  carries  the  fluid  to  a  covered  pail, 
which  strves  also  a  seat.  This  new  and  truly  "  Perfect "  milking- 
pail,  which  I  first  saw  described  in  the  American  Agricui,- 
TUBiST,  is  a  great  improvement  on  all  open  vessels.  I  prefer  no^t 
to  have  the  cow  eating  while  I  milk ;  she  should  give  her  whole 
attention  to  the  operation,  as  well  as  the  milker.  This  certainty 
that  my  milk  reaches  the  house  absolutely  pure,  not  only  satisfies 
us  as  to  our  own  cream  and  butter,  but  makes  "June's"  milk  in  great 
demand  in  the  neighborhood  Our  neighbors  so  much  prefer  it  to 
milkmen's  milk  that  they  are  willing  to  send  to  the  house  for  it, 
and  pay  more  than  the  usual  village  price.  This  adds  materially 
to  the  profit  of  keeping  one  cow. 


fa 
o 

< 

H 
'/J 
M 

>■ 


O 

o 

'A 
» 
U 


a 

H 
I 

r-l 


<3 

lO. 


KEEPING   USE  COW, 


63 


JOSEPH  EAIINEST  AND  HLS  COW  "COMFORT." 

A   STOKY   OF  THE   WESTERN   BESEKVE. 

BV  8,   B.   MORRIS,    CHAIILESTOWN,   PORTAGE  CO.,   O. 

The  luxury  of  having  fresh  milk,  cream,  and  butter,  may  be 
enjoyed  by  every  family  in  city,  town,  or  hamlet,  that  can  provide 
a  cow  with  the  necessaries  expressed  in  one  word— comfort.  To 
show -what  may  l)e  done  in  this  respect,  allow  me  to  give  some- 
what of  the  history  of  Joseph  Earnest.  Joseph's  father  was  a 
carpenter,  and  never  kept  a  horse  or  cow.  After  giving  his  son 
the  best  education  he  could  receive  at  the  common  sciliool,  he  kept 
him  at  work  with  himself  until  Joseph  also  became  a  master  car- 
penter. At  the  time  our  story  conunenees,  he  is  married  and  has 
a  family  of  three  children,  a  girl  of  eight,  a  boy  of  six  years,  and  a 
baby.  By  industry,  economy,  and  good  habits,  he  had  accumulated 
sufficient  means  to  purchase  a  half-acre  lot  in  the  outskirts  of  a 
flourishing  manufacturing  town.  Upon  this  lot  he  had  built  a 
small  but  comfortable  house.  His  wife,  the  daughter  of  a  well-to- 
do  farmer,  having  a  little  property  of  her  own,  invested  it  in  the 
vacant  lot  adjoining  th©m.  The  winter  previous  Joseph  had  put 
up  a  building  winch  was  to  serve  tlie  double  purpose  of  barn  and 
workshop.  The  barn  for  his  visiting  friends,  tlie  workshop  for 
himself.  Back  of  this  building,  and  adjacent  to  it,  was  a  small  hen- 
nery in  which  were  kept  a  fevr  fowls ;  at  one  side  wns  a  shed  for 
his  gardening  implements.  Everything  ab(»ut  the  jiremises  showed 
the  owner  was  neat  and  orderly,  as  well  as  tlirifty,  while  within 
the  snug  cottage  the  same  virtues  rei^-ncd  supreme.  Many  a  time 
did  Mary  look  back  to  the  old  home-life  on  the  farm,  and  think 
of  the  plentiful  products  of  the  dairj\  Then  she  would  say  to 
Joseph,  "IIow  I  wish  we  could  keep  a  cow.  It  seems  as 
though  I  cannot  half  cook  with  oidy  one  quart  of  milk  a 
day,  and  tie  children  would  be  so  much  healthier  if  they  could 
have  what  milk  they  want,"  Joseph  agreed  with  her,  and  would 
add,  "But  you  know  IMary  we  cannot  raise  our  own  vegetables 
and  fruit,  and  keep  a  cow,  with  only  one  acre  ut  land."  Imagine 
her  surprise,  when,  after  a  short  absence  one  morning,  Joseph 
returned  leading  a  cow.  He  was  soon  surrounded  by  his  family 
and  plied  with  questions,  such  as  :  Whose  is  slie?  Where  did  you 
get  her?  What  Tvill  you  do  with  her?  In  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions Joseph  replied,  "  I  w^cnt  over  to  Mr.  Durham's  this  morning, 
to  see  if  he  could  pay  me  what  was  back  on  the  work  I  did  for  him 


iii 


li 


54 


KEEPlNa  ONE  COW. 


last  fall.     I  found  bim  feeding  his  cattle  and  made  known  my 
errand.    He  said  he  had  no  money  at  present,  but  was  wanting  to 
sell  a  cow,  and  as  soon  as  he  could  would  pay  me.    I  asked  him 
which  cow  he  wanted  to  sell ;  he  pointed  out  this  one,  which  was 
smaller  than  the  others  and  seemed  driven  by  them.    Not  a  very 
large  cow,  he  said,  but  young,  with  some  Jersey  blood  in  her— 
better  for  a  family  cow  than  for  a  factory  cow.     1  say  Earnest,  she 
IS  just  what  you  need,  with  your  famdy.    But  I've  no  place  to  put 
her,  said  I,  and  I  don't  know  how  to  take  care  of  a  cow.    Non- 
sense, said  he,  put  her  in  your  stable  for  the  present,  and  you'll 
learn  how  to  take  care  of  her  fast  enough.    But  what  shall  I  feed 
her  ?    Why  the  money  you  pay  Churchill  for  milk,  with  what  you 
can  raise  on  your  lot,  will  keep  your  cow  right  along,  and  instead 
of  one  quart  a  day,  you'll  have  all  the  milk  and  cream  and  butter 
you   want  to  use,  and  some  to  spare,  and,  Mary,  I  thought  it 
would'nt  break  us  up  if  it  didn't  prove  a  success,  so  I  took  the  cow 
on  what  he  was  owing  me— twenty- five  dollars— and  here  she  is." 
"  Oh,  Joseph,  I  am  so  glad  you  bought  her,  :  do  believe  we  can 
keep  her,"  said  Mary,  "  how  gentle  she  seems,"— for  during  the 
talk  the  chddren  had  been  petting  the  cow,  who  appeared  well 
pleased  with  her  new  acquaintances.    The  baby  partaking  of  the 
general  animation,  crowed  with  delight,  as  though  already  antici- 
pating the  good  time  coming. 

"  She  has  behaved  like  a  baby  coming  over  here,"  said  Joseph, 
"  and  I  declare  I  begin  to  love  her  already.  I  have  always  wished 
we  could  live  where  we  could  have  animals  around  us,  and  per- 
haps we  will  some  day."  Mary  said  she  hoped  they  could,  for 
she  felt  lonesome  for  them.  "But  what  shall  we  name  our 
cow  ?  For  my  part  I  would  like  to  call  her  *  Comfort,'  and  while 
she  contributes  to  our  comfort  we  will  endeavor  to  do  the 
same  for  her."  Joseph  agreed  to  the  name,  saying  he  needed 
plenty  to  eat  and  drink,  a  good  bed  and  pleasant  home,  and  he  be- 
lieved that  animals  did  too,  so  he  would  give  her  one  of  his  nice 
roomy  stalls  in  his  barn,  make  her  a  bed  of  shavings  from  the 
shop  until  he  couid  do  better.  "  We  have  pure  water  for  her  to 
drink,  with  hay  and  vegetables  to  eat,  and  that  will  keep  her  alive 
until  we  learn  what  she  will  thrive  on  best."  As  this  was  a 
*'  broken  "  day,  he  thought  they  had  better  get  neighbor  Manning's 
horse  and  carry-all,  and  drive  out  to  father  Granger's.  He  had 
always  been  a  good  farmer  and  could  tell  him  just  how  to  care 
for  the  cow.  All  were  delighted  with  this  plan  and  wer^  ,oon 
enjoying  a  six-mile  drive  mto  the  country. 


1 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


55 


He  learned  that  a  cow  would  eat  almost  anything  that  grows, 
but  that  judgment  and  experience  was  needed  in  feeding  to  pro- 
duce the  best  results.  Father  Granger  said  they  could  keep  a  cow 
as  well  as  not,  and  better  too,  and  Joseph  began  to  believe  it.  At 
the  suggestion  of  father  G.  he  borrowed  a  bag,  and  on  his  way 
home  stopped  at  the  grist  mill  and  had  it  filled  with  bran,  which 
tlie  old  gentleman  said  was  about  the  best  feed  for  a  cow  just  be- 
fore coming  m.  After  arriving  home  "  Comfort "  received  a  feed  of 
hay  and  a  quart  of  bran— had  a  drink  of  fresh  water,  her  stable 
cleaned,  some  fresh  shavings  given  her  for  a  beddmg,  and  with 
kind  pats  and  words  was  left  for  the  night.  In  the  evening  bed- 
ding was  talked  over.  Joseph  thought  he  would  get  the  privilege 
of  gathering  leaves  from  a  wood  lot  about  one  half  mile 
distant,  but  Mary  thought  they  would  be  too  wet  at  this 
season,  then  sawdust  was  suggested,  but  that  was  net  quite  the 
thing  they  concluded,  that  is,  if  they  could  think  of  anything  bet- 
ter. To  be  perfect  it  must  be  comfortable  for  the  cow  to  stand  or 
lie  upon,  it  must  be  an  absorbent  of  liquid  manure,  and  something 
that  would  add  to  the  value  of  the  compost  heap,  and  would  easily 
decompose.  Suddenly  Joseph  exclaimed,  "I  have  it,  just  the 
thing.  You  remember  I  went  out  to  N.  last  fall  to  do  a  job  of 
work  for  Charlie  Curtiss's  brother,  and  when  he  came  to  bring  me 
home,  with  my  tools,  he  put  a  large  top  box  on  his  wagon  box, 
and  also  put  in  a  number  of  sacks.  I  asked  him  what  he  was 
going  to  bring  home  and  he  said  '  oat  shucks '  to  bed  his  cows 
with— that  the  shucks  were  dry  and  bulky,  and  for  fifty  cents  you 
could  get  all  you  could  draw  at  a  loud.  He  said  it  was  the  best 
and  cheapest  bedding  he  could  get,  and  much  more  than  paid  for 
Itself  in  the  value  of  the  manure.  That  is  just  what  we  want,  and 
I  will  get  Charlie  to  draw  me  a  load  to-morrow."  So  the  next 
night "  Comfort "  laid  down  for  the  first  time  m  her  life  on  a  "  first- 
rlass  "  bed  of  oat  shucks,  while  the  adjoining  stall  was  filled  full 
f  jr  future  use. 

"  Joseph,  what  are  you  going  to  do  with  that  lumber  Charlie  left 
here  to-day,  said  Mary,"  a  few  evenings  later?  "Well  I  have 
been  thinking  'Comfort'  ought  to  have  a  little  yard  where  she 
can  walk  around  and  enjoy  the  sunshine  and  fresh  air.  I  am 
going  to  build  a  fence  from  the  farther  corner  of  the  hennery 
to  the  fence  on  the  back  side  of  the  lot,  and  one  from  the  corner  of 
the  shed  buck,  and  that  will  make  her  a  good  yard.  Those  two 
English  cherry  trees  will  come  in  it  and  furnish  shade  for  her  in 
the  hottest  weather. 


,)  1  - 


66 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


-  wTf7n  H        ^'  M  '^"''^•'  ""'^^  ^^°"^"  ^^«"^  ^'«^k,  Mary  asked, 
rir!w   J  n   '7'^'^  ^''  ^'''^  ^"^"S  to  do  with  these,"  as  she 

drew   from    the   bundle  a    card    and    brush.     "  Which    of   the 
family    are    you    going    to    use    these    on  ?"-"  Oh,   I    thought 
au'hr    "Y  ^T^'^'T  *^  '"^^  ^°  ^^^  l^ouso/saia  Joseph 
around  by  Mason's,  to  see  about  repairing  his  house  this  next  sum 

Tv^rvM  ''•'"'  "^^  ^^''  ''"''  "^  ^"^''"^^^'  «"  '"«  ^t«^k  look  thrifty- 
eycryth.ng  is  up  m  order,  and  he  makes  farming  pay.  I  found 
liim  in  the  stable  curdn.g  and  bruslnng  his  cows.  That  was  anew 
dea  to  me.  and  I  asked  h.m  if  he  thought  it  really  paid  h^to 
sp  nd  so  mudi  time  and  labor  on  his  cows.  Wellf  said  he,^4e 
had  the  care  of  cattle  nigh  on  to  thirty  years,  and  I  think  my  ^ard- 

io'lnn.  '^"^  ?^  ''  ^'"  '^  ^"^^'"'"^^^  I  ^^°  ^«'  -'^  there  is 

liothmg  an  animal  enjoys  more  than  having  its  coat  combed." 

"What  did  Mr.  Mason  say  about  the  work"-"  He  is  goinff  to 
have  his  house  thoroughly:  repaired,  and  I  am  glad  to  say  your 
husband  has  the  job,  and  he  is  going  to  keep  his  eyes  and  ears  open 
and  learn  what  he  can  about  farming." 

Joseph  had  bought  a  load  of  fine  hay  a  farmer  was  takmo-  into 
town  to  market  and  "  Comfort"  was  now  fed  hay  three  times  I  day' 
with  two  quarts  of  bran  night  and  morning.    At  noon  there  was 
omething  from  the  house  also,  like  potato  and  apple  peelirgs 
small  potatoes  wilted  turnips  or  beets,  cut  up  cabbage  leaves  efc' 
The  children  thought  it  nice  fun  to  feed  her  at  noon^  Some  loose 
bars  had  been  put  up  to  her  stall  which  was  quite  roomy,  and  she 
did  not  have  to  be  driven  into  it  by  some  of  the  men  and  all  of 
the  boys  m  the  neighborhood,  but  when  the  gate  of  the  yard  was 
opened  she  walked  briskly  to  her  stall,  knowing  she  would  find  a 
good  supper  waiting  for  her.     Humane  care,  the  plenty  of  food 
and  drink,. given  regularly,  h.ve  wrought  in  a  month's  time  a 
great  change  in  the  appearance  of "  Comfort.  '    From  being  a  poorly 
fed     whipped"  cow  In  a  dairy,  sufiering  all  the  discomfort  of 
stanchions  for  eighteen  out  of  twenty-four  hours,  with  no  bed  but 
a  bare  floor-she  has  come  to  be  a  thrifty,  happy  animal,  givmg 
good  promise  of  rewarding  her  owners  well  for  their  care     One 
morning  the  first  week  in  April,  Joseph  came  m  from  the  barn 
looking  pleased,  but  a  little  anxious,     "  Children,"  he  said,  "  what 
do  you  think  1  found  at  the  l)arn  this  morning? "— "  Oh  a  bossv  " 
they  said   ddighted  with  the  idea.-"  Yes,  '  Comfort' lias  a  little 
comfort,  and  she  is  very  proud  of  il ;  |)ut  now  comes  the  rub 
who  IS  to  milk,  and  what  is  to  be  done  with  the  calf? "-"  Oh,"' 


KEEPIXG   ONE  COW. 


67 


lii 


;1i 


said  Mary,  "I  guess  I  have  not  quite  forgotten  how  to  milk  yet, 
and  you  can  soon  learn—'  never  too  old  to  le  ,rn,'  you  know.     I 
will  go  out  after  breakfast  and  milk  out  what  the  calf  does  not 
take,  and  you  can  go  around  by  Mr.  Mason's  and  ask  him  what 
we  had  better  do  with  the  calf."    Joseph  felt  these  were  good  sug- 
gestions, and  after  standing  by  Mary,  in  more  than  one  sense, 
while  she  performed  her  part  of  the  programme— which  wassuc- 
c.?ssliilly  accomplished — he  started  for  work  by  way  of  farmer 
Mason's.     Arriving  there  he  made  known  his  errand.     "  Well," 
said  Mr.  M.,  "you  can  'deacon'  it  or  veal  it.    Don't  many  but 
dairymen  follow  the  first  way,  and  I  should  advise  you  to  let  it 
have  all  the  milk  it  wants  for  four  or  five  weeks,  and  the  butcher 
will  take  it  and  pay  you  five  or  six  dollars.     Put  the  calf  by  itself, 
and  night  and  morning  let  it  go  to  the  cow  and  get  its  own  milk.'' 
When  Joseph  arrived  home  that  evening,  he  partitioned  ofi"  a  cor- 
ner of  the  barn  with  some  barrels  and  boxes,  put  in  some  bedding, 
and  put  the  calf  in  his  new  quartei-s.    Then  he  tried  his  hand  at 
milking,  Mary  standing  by  him  this  time,  telling  him  what  to  do, 
and  laughing  a  little  at  his  awkward  efforts,  yet  encouraging  him 
by  saying  he  did  splendidly  for  the  first  trial.  "  Comfort "  rewarded 
him  for  his  kindness  to  her,  by  being  very  patient  with  hia  awk- 
wardness, and  he  daily  improved  in  the  art  of  milkin;^,  so  that 
while  vealy  was  getting  his  fill,  he  would  get  about  two'or  three 
quarts  as  his  share. 

The  latter  part  of  April  Joseph  commenced  work  for  Mr.  Mason, 
and  as  his  work-bench  was  at  one  end  of  the  barn  floor,  he  had  a 
good  opportunity  for  observation.     He  noticed  Mr.   M.  fed  his 
cows  corn  meal,  and  asked  him  what  feed  he  considered  best  for 
cows  giving  milk  at  this  time  of  the  year.    Mr.  M.  said,  in  his  ex- 
perience he  had  found  there  were  three  things  to  be  considered  in 
tlie  care  of  cows.     Health  of  the  cow,  quantity  and  quality  of  the 
milk.    Plenty  of  wholesome  food  and  pure  water  (also  a  little  salt 
each  day),  given  regularly,  out  of  door  exercise  in  pleasant  weather, 
and  general  good  care  will  give  the  first.     "  Clover  hay,  corn  fod- 
der, wheat  bran  or  ground  oats,  with  some  roots,  will  keep  up  the 
flow  of    milk,"   said  l,e,    "  but  if   you   want   thick  cream,  and 
plenty  of  golden  butter,  feed  your  cow  corn  meal.    When  my 
cows  are   in    milk    and    kept    on    dry    feed,  I   give   each   cow 
daily,  morning  and  evening,  four  (luarts  of  mixed  feed,  one  part, 
by  weight,  of  wheat  bran  and  two  parts  of  corn  njeal,  with  about 
one  tablespoonful  of  salt.      We  make  more  and  better  butter  on 
this  feed  than  when  the  cows  have  grass  only." 


p;i! 


r>n 


h 


\m 


I 


6d 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


i 


Joseph,  havinir  no  experience  of  his  own,  was  glad  to  tise  that 
of  others  in  regard  to  liis  cow,  so  from  this  time  he  began  feeding 
"  Comfort "  corn  meal,  beginning  with  a  pint  and  increasing  gradu- 
ally to  one  quart ;  tlie  result  being  plainly  seen  in  the  improved 
quality  of  the  milk  and  condition  of  the  calf  When  this  was  five 
weeks  old  the  butcher  took  it  away  giving  five  dollars  for  it,  and 
seemed  much  pleased  with  his  bargain. 

That  evening  Joseph  figured  a  little.  He  found  his  bran  and 
corn  meal  had  cost  three  dollars  and  fifty-five  cents,  so  there  was  a 
balance  of  one  dollar  and  forty-five  cents  from  the  calf  to  pay  on  the 
hay.  They  had  had  from  tliree  to  four  quarts  of  milk  per  day,  of 
better  quality  than  that  they  could  have  bought  for  six  cents  a  quart 
Thirty  days,  three  and  one-half  quarts  a  day,  at  six  cents  a  quart, 
is  six  dollars  and  thirty  cents.  By  stabling  and  bedding  the  cow, 
quite  a  quantity  of  good  manure  had  accumulated,  and  Joseph  felt 
very  well  satisfied,  so  far,  with  his  experiment,  and  most  of  all  for 
the  luxury  of  having  good  sweet  milk  for  the  family  use.  It  was* 
now  the  middle  of  M-iy,  grass  was  well  started,  and  as  there  were 
farms  near  them,  it  was  thought  best  to  hire  pasture  for  the  sum- 
mer. By  inquiry  they  found  she  could  be  pastured  one-fourth 
mile  from  home.  This  seemed  too  far  to  carry  the  milk,  and 
would  take  too  much  time  to  drive  back  and  forth  twice  a  day. 
"  Why  not  keep  her  at  home  nights,  and  feed  her  something  as 
we  do  now,"  said  Mary;  "  she  will  be  glad  to  come  home  then. 
Father  always  feeds  his  cows  bran  in  the  summer;  he  says  it  pays 
m  their  *  coming  up'  if  in  nothing  else.  He  goes  to  the  gate  and 
calls  '  come  boss,'  and  they  all  start  as  quickly  as  if  he  had  said, 
•  come  to  supper,'  and  it  is  that  to  them."  So  it  was  decided  to 
keep  "  Comfort "  home  nights.  In  a  few  days  "  Comfort "  was  intro- 
duced to  her  summer  range,  and  quickly  learned  the  way  to  awl 
from  the  pasture,  and  the  children  tho.  ght  it  a  great  pleasure  to 
drive  her  to  and  fro. 

"Joseph,"  said  Mary,  about  this  time,  "  what  shall  we  do  with 
the  sour  milk  ?  The  neighbors  will  take  some  of  it  at  two  cents  a 
quart,  but  the  demand  is  irregular,  and  it  don't  seem  right 
to  throw  it  away.  Don't  you  think  we  better  get  a  pig?"— 
"  Perhaps  so  ;  as  we  are  in  for  experimeutr^  *  is  year  we  might  try 
that  also.  Mason  has  some  nice  pigs— two  kinds.  One  kind 
make  large  growthy  animals,  the  other  kind  are  smaller  but  finer, 
and  would  be  best  for  us,  I  ihluk"'  Soon  a  pig  was  added  to  their 
farm  stock.  Joseph  declared  he  would  not  try  to  live  without  a 
cow  again  if  it  cost  twice  as  much  to  take  care  of  her.  "  Why  we 
didn't  know  what  good  living  was  until  'Comfort'  came  to  live 


SEEPIiq^G  ONE  COW. 


59 


wit,h  us,  did  we,  children  ? "-«  No,  indeed,  only  when  we  went  to 
grand-pa's."-"  Look  at  this  baby,"  said  Mary,  "she  never  was 
so  well  before,  and  she  is  getting  as  rosy  and  round  as  a  Maiden- 
blush  apple.  You  can't  think  what  a  help  tlie  milk  is  to  me  in 
cookmg.  I  can  always  have  somethmg  fresh  and  nice  now,  and  it 
will  lessen  our  meat  bill  too." 

Some  of  the  neighbors  wanted  to  buy  milk ;  "Comfort"  was  giving 
sixteen  quarts  a  day.  So  four  neighboring  families  were  supplied 
each  with  one  quart  of  milk  a  day,  and  after  a  week's  trial  Mary 
reported  she  had  made  five  pounds  of  butter  that  was  worth  twenty 
cents  per  pound,  grocery  price.  They  had  sold  twenty  eight 
quarts  of  milk  at  six  cents  a  quart,  butter  and  milk  amounting  to 
two  dollars  and  sixty-eight  cents,  and  they  had  used  all  the 
sweet  milk,  cream,  sour  milk  and  butter-milk  they  needed, 
and  the  pig  had  been  kept  on  the  surplus  of  the  last  two. 
Joseph  was  now  feeding  "Comfort"  as  Mr.  Mason  advised, 
with  corn  meal  and  bran,  two-thirds  of  the  former  and 
one-third  of  the  latter  by  weight,  giving  three  quarts  of  the 
mixture  night  and  morning.  Corn  meal  cost  one  cent  per 
pound,  bran  cost  two-thirds  of  a  cent  a  pound,  the  cost  of  the  feed 
per  day  being  a  fraction  over  seven  cents.  He  also  gave  her  a  lit- 
tle hay— to  the  value  of  say  ten  cents  a  week— pasture  cost  twenty- 
five  cents  a  week,  so  the  expense  of  her  keeping  was  eighty-five 
cents  a  week,  the  work  offsetting  the  milk  used,  left  a  profit  of  one 
dollar  and  eighty-three  cents.  There  was  another  item  not  to  be 
overlooked.  The  manure  that  was  accumulating,  the  value  of 
which  was  largely  increased  by  the  ground  feed  given  the  cow, 
and  the  oat  shuck  bedding.  Of  the  acre  of  land  about  one- 
quarter  was  occupied  with  buildings,  walks,  shrubbery,  a  small 
lawn  in  front,  and  flower  garden  at  the  side  of  the  house, 
but  every  foot  of  intervening  space  was  well  seeded  to  grass,  so 
it  really  made  quite  a  little  mowing.  Another  quarter  had  been 
set  out  to  fruit  trees  five  years,  and  was  now  well  stocked  with 
red  clover,  the  remaining  one-half  acre  had  been  used  as  a  garden 
and  potato  patch.  With  the  exception  of  a  few  loads  of  manure, 
obtained  at  different  places,  no  fertilizer  had  been  used  on  this 
acre  of  land.  But  now  having  gone  into  the  stock  business,  Jo- 
seph began  to  read  and  think  about  such  things.  He  frequently 
brought  home  an  agricultural  paper  from  Mr.  Mason's  to  read  in 
the  evening,  and  began  also  to  feel  he  must  have  one  of  his  own. 
He  found  considerable  in  the  papers  about  commercial  fertilizers, 
so  he  asked  Mr.  Mason  if  he  had  ever  used  any  of  them.  He 
said  he  had  experimented  with  them  considerably,  and  thought 


i 


:ri 


"if 


60 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


them  excellen*  '  Ips.  "  I  have  never,"  said  he,  "  paid  out  money 
for  anything  tL  .^  came  baclc  as  quickly  with  as  good  profit,  as  su- 
perphosphates. These  and  other  fertilizers  must  be  used  with 
judgment  to  get  the  best  returns,  but  on  gravelly  soil,  with  a  clay 
subsoil  like  ours  here,  it  pays  well."  Joseph  also  asked  Mr.  M. 
what  he  could  raise  on  his  lot  to  the  best  advantage  for  his  cow. 
•'  I  should  say  sowed  corn  and  mangel  wurzels.  You  see  this 
little  lot  at  the  back  of  the  barn,  it  is  ten  square  rods,  and  very 
rich  ground. 

COEN    FODDER. 

"  I  sow  this  to  corn  in  drills  about  this  time  (the  last  of  May),  so 
that  it  gets  well  tasseled  by  the  time  pastures  begin  to  get  rather 
dry,  as  they  usually  do  after  the  middle  of  summer,  then  I  begin 
to  feed,  and  it  helps  keep  up  the  flow  of  milk  amazingly.  It  is  a 
sweet,  juicy  and  nutritious  feed,  just  the  thing  for  cows.  Let  me 
calculate  a  little.  Why  Earnest,  if  your  land  could  be  made  to 
produce  like  this  piece,  ^ou  can  raise  coarse  fodder  enough  for 
your  cow  for  six  months,  on  thirty  square  rods  of  ground.  I  like 
some  roots  for  cows — we  like  a  variety  of  food,  so  do  animals. 
The  best  roots  I  know  of  to  raise  for  stock  are  sugar  beets  or 
the  mangels." 

Very  soon  after  this  conversation  Joseph  had  his  half  acre  of 
land  plowed  deep  and  in  narrow  furrows,  as  he  had  seen  recom- 
mended in  agricultural  papers.  The  manure  that  had  accumu- 
lated from  the  cow  was  used  for  a  top-dressing  for  one  half  of  "he 
plowed  portion?  This  was  well  harrowed,  and  th !  ee-fourths  ot  it 
lightly  furrowed  with  the  plow,  two  and  one  hali  feet  apart.  The 
remaining  one-fourth  was  turned  into  ridges  as  close  as  the  fur- 
rows cculd  be  turned  together.  His  team  work  was  now  done  for 
the  present  on  this  part  of  his  lot  especially  set  apart  for  his  cow. 
(The  other  half  of  the  plowed  lot  was  to  be  used  for  his  main 
family  garden,  he  having  spaded  up  some  beds  for  early  vegeta- 
bles.) He  had  provided  himself  with  seed  corn  from  farmer 
Mason's,  some  mangel  wurzel  seed  from  the  seed  store,  and  also 
a  bag  of  two  hundred  pounds  of  phosphate,  of  a  brand  recom- 
mended by  Mr.  M.  The  phosphate  was  sprinkled  in  the  plow 
marks,  at  the  rate  of  three  hundred  pounds  to  the  acre,  as  near 
as  could  be  judged,  the  soil  in  the  bottom  of  the  furrow  was 
lightly  stirred  with  a  four  pronged  potato  hook,  the  corn  was 
sprinkled  in,  about  eight  kernels  to  the  foot  [sixteen  to  twenty  is 
better — Ed.,]  and  covered  about  two  inches  deep.  One  half  of 
the  piece  designed  for  corn  was  planted,  and  the  other  half  left  to 


KEEPIJfG   ONE   COW. 


61 


be  treated  in  the  same  way  some  two  weeks  later.    The  top 
was  raked  off  the  ridges  designed  for  the  mangles.    A  furrow 
was  made  on  each  with  a   hand   hoe,  and  phosphate  sprinkled 
in  rather    more    liberally    than  for   the  com.     This  was  thor- 
oughly mixed  with  the  soil,  the  farrow  becoming  nearly  level 
with  the  surface.     A  line  was  drawn  by  which  a  light  mark  was 
mac^e  with  the  enil  of  the  hoe  handle,  in  which  the  mangel  seeds 
were  sown  and  covered  about  one  inch  deep,  the  soil  being  pressed 
down  lightly  with  the  hoe.     After  saving  enough  phosphate  for  the 
balance  of  the  corn,  and  a  little  to  experiment  with  on  some  late 
potatoes,  the  remainder  was  sown  broadcast  on  the  clover.    It  fell 
a  little  short  of  covering  the  whole,  and  Joseph  tliought   that 
would  make  a  good  opportunity  to  test  its  virtues.    His  seeds 
came  up  well,  and,  as  he  had  all  he  could  attend  to  nights  and 
mornings,  he  hired  a  neighbor  to  do  his  farm  work,  and  he  deter- 
mined no  weeds  should  have  the  benefit  of  his  fertilizers  or  soil; 
and  this  part  of  his  programme  was  thoroughly  carried  out  during 
the  growing  season. 

SUMMER  QUARTERS, 
In  «  Comfort's"  yard  was  a  corner  formed  by  the  barn  on  one  side 
the  hennery  on  another,  and  the  board  fence  on  a  third  side.  Joseph 
put  a  roof  over  this  corner,  and  about  a  foot  deep  of  oat  shucks  on 
the  ground,  and  fastened  a  box  to  the  side  of  the  barn  for  her  to 
eat  wut  of;  and  here  were  her  summer  quarters.  Every  morning 
before  milking  the  droppings  were  cleaned  up  and  piled  in  one 
corner  of  the  yard.  As  soon  as  the  clover  began  to  blossom,  an 
armful  was  cut  each  evening  and  fed  to  "  Comfort"  after  her  ration 
of  dry  feed,  and  the  morning  feed  was  discontinued.  After  the 
corn  was  large  enough,  that  took  the  place  of  clover  until  frost 
threatened  ;  then  it  was  cut  up  and  bound  in  small  bundles,  which 
were  set  up  in  large  stooks,  to  cure  for  winter  use. 

No  difference  was  observed  in  the  first  crop  of  clover  in  favor 
of  the  phosphate,  but  the  second  cutting  was  largely  benefited  by 
its  use.  Over  one-half  of  the  first  and  second  cuttings  were  cured 
and  stored  m  the  barn,  with  all  of  the  grass  around  the  yard, 
which,  with  fully  two-thirds  of  the  stalks,  would  be  nearly,  if  not 
quite  enough  coarse  feed  to  last "  Comfort"  through  the  winter.  The 
mangels  yielded  about  twenty-five  bushels,  not  a  very  large  yield, 
but  quite  satisfactory,  considering  the  soil  had  not  really  been 
farmed  but  one  year.  The  roots  were  pitted  near  the  barn  tor 
spring  use.    Some  of  the  corn  stalks  were  set  so  as  to  form  a, 


62 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


slanting  roof  over  them  ;  three  or  four  inches  of  dirt  thrown  over 
this ;  afterwards  enough  to  lieep  them  from  freezing. 

About  tlie  first  of  November,"  Comfort"  was  established  in  win- 
ter quarters  in  the  stall,  at  night  and  during  stormy  days,  and  in  the 
yard  on  pleasmt  days.  She  continued  in  milk  until  the  middle 
of  February,  and  was  in  fresh  milk  March  eighteenth,  was  hearty 
and  contented— a  comfort  to  look  at  as  well  as  to  own.  Joseph 
Earnest  was  well  pleased  with  his  year's  experiment 

CONCLUSIONS. 
It  is  now  three  years  since  he  brought  comfort  to  his  home  in 
more  ways  than  one.  His  little  farm  is  improving  every  year  in 
fertility  and  value,  and  even  now  blossoms  like  a  thing  of  beauty. 
Some  of  his  neighbors  have  followed  his  example,  for  he  tells 
them : 

'*  Any  one  who  has  a  place  to  put  a  cow  can  keep  one  with 
profit,  if  he  will  make  her  comfortable;  that  it  matters  not 
whether  protection  from  the  weather  is  secured  by  logs,  straw, 
sods,  rough  boards,  or  planed  boards  well  painted.  She  must  have 
exercise,  sunshine,  and  fresh  air.  These  can  be  obtained  in  a  small 
dry  yard,  kept  clean,  as  well  as  in  *  Uncle  Sam's'  pasture,  the 
open  prairie.  She  must  have  something  of  a  variety  of  whole- 
some food,  and  a  plentiful  supply  of  pure  water.  No  domestic 
animal,  in  proportion  to  its  weight,  needs  as  much  water  as  a 
milch  cow.  She  must  be  kept  clean  by  litter,  card,  and  brush.  If 
these  rules  are  observed  with  judgment  and  kindness,  very  seldom 
will  any  help  be  needed  at  time  of  calving.  If  anything  goes 
wrong  there  is  no  better  rule  than  to  use  one's  common  sense, 
taking  the  advice  of  experienced  neighbors. 

"  To  economize  manure,  an  abundance  of  good  litter  should  be 
used,  and  the  compost  heap  kept  under  cover,  if  possible ;  at  any 
rate,  not  under  the  eaves  of  the  barn.  If,  with  this  home-made 
manure,  your  land  does  not  produce  all  it  can,  and  you  wish  to 
buy  some  fertilizing  material,  your  first  choice  should  be  good 
stable  manure ;  if  you  cannot  get  that  reasonably,  use  some  re- 
liable brand  of  commercial  fertilizer.  Have  your  cow  '  come  in ' 
when  it  will  be  most  for  your  profit  or  convenience,  avoiding  hot 
weather.  The  calf  may  be  killed  when  one  to  three  days  old, 
saving  its  hide  and  rennet;  it  may  be  kept  until  five  or  six  weeks 
old,  fed  on  new  milk,  and  *  vealed,'  or  sold  for  that  purpose,  or  it 
may  be  raised  on  skim-milk  (after  it  is  three  or  four  weeks  old), 
and  sold  in  the  fall  to  some  farmer. 

♦•  Milking  should  be  done  gently  but  qqickly,  as  near  twelve 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


63 


hours  apart  as  possible.  Milk  clean  but  do  not  •'  strip;"  use  the 
whole  hand,  and  not  the  thumb  and  finger  only ;  sing  or  wliistle, 
if  you  want  to  while  milking;  if  you  are  good  friends  with  youi 
cow,  she  will  enjoy  it. 

'•  Since  the  first  year  I  have  not  bought  any  coarse  feed,  and  only 
a  little  fertilizer  for  grass  and  clover,  the  cow  and  pig  furnishing 
all  that  is  needed  for  the  plowed  ground,  and  this  last  year  I  have 
a  surplus  of  feed.  I  tell  you,  friends,  my  cow  is  the  best  savings 
bank  I  ever  knew." 

This  and  much  more  said  Joseph  Earnest  to  his  neighbors. 


Fig.  15. 


A  GOOD  STABLE  "TIE.' 
Mr.  D.  C.  Kenyon,  of  Carbondale,  Pa.,  describes 
a  convenient  home-made  Stable  Tie  as  follows: 
Our  tie,  of  which  we  send  you  a  miniature  sample, 
is  made  of  three-eightlis  inch  rope,  which  is  braided 
into  an  iron  ring  sliding  freely  up  and  down  a  post 
set  close  to  the  manger  or  feed-box.  There  is  a 
knot  or  frog  on  one  end,  and  a  loop  on  the  other. 
The  ends  pass  on  each  side  of  the  cow's  neck,  and 
the  knot  is  slipped  through  the  loop  which  may 
be  made  tighter  by  twisting.  Similar  fastenings 
made  of  chains  with  snap-hooks  may  be  bought  at 
the  hardware  stores,  but  such  an  one  as  is  here 
described  will  last  a  long  time  and  answer  every 
purpose. 


•    f 


64 


KKEPI>^a   ON^E   COW. 


JERUSALEM    ARTICHOKES    AS    COW-FEED. 

BT  CHRISTOPUER  SnEARER,   TUCKERTON,   I'A. 

Butter  and  milk  arc  not  only  luxurios,  but  in  many  families  they 
are  indispensable  necessaries  of  life.  In  this  article  my  principal 
purpose  is  to  show  how  a  cow  can  be  kept  with  the  greatest  econ- 
omy of  land  and  labor.  I  consider  these  the  essential  points 
In  the  discussion.  Where  hay  is  dear  and  pasture  scarce,  a  man 
who  lives  by  the  labor  of  his  Lands,  cannot  onlinarily  afford  lo 
purchase  the  necessary  food  for  a  cow ;  and  if  he  has  only  an  acre 
or  two  of  land  at  his  disposal,  he  finds  it  more  profitable  to  raise 
otiier  products.  Ordinarily  it  requires  the  yield  of  several  acres 
of  land  to  support  a  cow.  But  I  propose  to  sliow  that  this  can 
be  done  on  less  than  one  acre,  by  raising  tlie  proper  crops,  and 
treating  the  soil  to  the  best  a  1  vantage.  A  cow  of  ordinary  size  will 
consume  about  eleven  thousand  pounds  of  hay,  or  its  equivalent, 
in  a  year.  The  equivalent  of  this  amount  of  hay  is— in  potatoes, 
thirty  thousand  eight  hundred  pounds,  or  five  hundred  and  thir- 
teen bushels,  and  in  Indian  corn,  seven  thousand  seven  hundred 
pounds,  or  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  bushels.  These  quan- 
tities cannot  be  raised  on  one  acre,  and  if  we  examine  the  tables 
of  equivalents  of  food,  we  find  that  most  of  the  grasses,  grains, 
and  roots,  are  objectionable  on  account  of  unproductiveness,  want 
of  suflUcient  nutritive  qualities,  or  of  the  labor  that  the  cultivation 
of  them  requires. 

VALUE    OF    ARTICHOKES. 

There  is,  however,  a  rdot,  or  tuber,  an  acre  of  which  affords 
enough  nourishment  to  sustain  two  cows,  with  less  labor  than  is 
employed  in  raising  an  acre  of  potatoes —and  that  root  is  the 
Jerusalem  Artichoke  (Helianthua  tuberosus).  We  can  dep<'nd  upon 
an  average  yield  of  from  one  thousand  to  one  thousand  two  hun- 
dred bushels  of  these  tubers  from  an  acre  of  land  rich  enough  to 
produce  fifty  bushels  of  corn.  •  Pound  for  pound  they  are  equal 
in  nutritive  qualities  to  potatoes.  One  cow  can  therefore  be  sub- 
sisted a  year  on  five  hundred  or  six  hundred  bushels  of  the  tubers, 
a  quantity  that  can  be  raised  on  half  an  acre  of  land.  'But  smce 
these  roots  do  not  keep  over  summer,  and  as  the  cow  will  not 
thrive  on  them  alone,  it  is  necessary  to  supplement  them  with  dry 
fodder  fluriiig  winter,  and  U:  subsist  her  on  other  forage  during 
summer.  With  the  aid  of  this  plant,  three-quarters  of  an  acre  of 
land  under  high  cultivation,  will  nourish  a  cow  during  the  whole 


Ill 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


65 


year,  and  the  soil  will  become  rich  without  any  other  manure  than 
that  derived  from  tlie  cow.  This  can  bo  done  witli  little  expense, 
and  with  no  more  labor  tlian  is  involved  in  ordinary  farm  culture. 
It  is  necessary  to  begin  v>i)erations  on  the  farm  in  monl  sections 
of  the  Middle  States,  a  little  earlier  than  the  lirst  of  May. 

A  cow  can  be  subsisted  to  the  best  advantage  on  a  sjnall  patch 
of  land,  by  feeding  her  Jerusalem  Artichokes  and  a  little  hay  or 
other  dry  fodder  through  the  winter  and  part  of  spring,  and  soil- 
ing her  witli  green  rye,  clover,  and  green-corn  fodder,  the  rest  of 
the  year.  Three-quarters  of  an  acre  will,  under  judidous  treat- 
ment, yield  enough  of  these  products  to  maintain  a  cow  during  the 
year.  If  the  soil  be  not  in  good  condition  to  begin  with,  that 
quantity  of  land  may,  for  a  year  or  two,  be  insufllcient  for  the 
purpose,  and  it  will  then  be  necessary  to  supply  the  deficiency 
from  other  sources;  but  by  proper  management  the  land  will,  iu 
a  few  years,  be  converted  into  a  garden  that  will  afford  abundant 
nourishment  for  the  cow,  without  pasture  or  outside  aid  either  in 
food  or  manure. 

Suppose  that  a  man  owns  a  cow  of  medium  size,  or  a  little 
larger,  that  he  has  tiiree-quarters  of  an  acre  of  land,  that  one- 
third  of  it,  namely,  one-quarter  of  an  acre,  is  in  clover,  that  the 
remainder  is  ready  for  the  plow,  and  that  it  is  early  spring-time 
of  the  year,  he  should  go  to  work  at  once  and  manure  the  land 
liberally,  for  he  will  be  well  repaid  for  tlie  expense,  in  the  superior 
productiveness  of  the  soil.  All  the  land,  excepting  the  clover, 
should  be  plowed,  and  one-sixth  of  the  land,  that  is  one-eighth  of 
an  acre,  should  be  sowed  with  oats,  with  about  one-half  bushel  of 
seed.  One  quart  of  clover  seed,  and  one  pint  of  timothy  seed 
should  be  sown  on  the  oats.  The  oats  are  raised  only  during  the 
first  year,  rye  being  substituted  in  after  years,  and  the  timothy  is 
added  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the  hay-crop  in  the  second 
year.  One-third  of  the  land  (one-quarter  ot  an  acre)  should  be 
planted  in  Jerusalem  Artichokes,  early  in  the  season.  This  root 
should  be  planted  in  hills,  three  feet  apart  each  way,  and  cultivated 
flat,  both  ways.  As  the  land  increases  in  fertility  in  future  years, 
the  hills  may  be  set  a  little  farther  apart.  The  patch  should  be 
stirred  two  or  three  times  with  the  cultivator  while  the  plants  are 
young,  and  afterwards  kept  clear  of  weeds  with  the  hoe.  The 
weeds  require  but  little  attention  after  the  plant  has  attained  a 
fair  growth.  One  tuber,  or  piece  of  tuber,  of  about  the  size  of  a 
hen's  egg,  is  sufficient  for  a  hill,  the  seed  being  covered  to  th© 
depth  of  two  or  three  inches  with  earth, 


\  !i !»  i 


06 


KEEriNO  ONE  COW. 


As  soon  as  the  season  is  far  enough  advanced,  one-sixth  of  the 
plot  (one-eighth  of  an  acre)  should  be  planted  in  sweet  com.  One 
half  of  the  corn  should  bo  set  out  very  early,  and  the  rest  about 
four  weeks  later,  so  as  to  extend  its  growth,  and  consequently  its 
availability  as  green  fodder,  over  a  Ioniser  period.  The  furrows 
should  be  three  feet  apart,  and  the  corn  planted  in  drills,  [sixteen 
to  twenty  ken  Is  to  the  foot— Ed.]  Afterwards  the  corn  should 
bo  cultivated  two  or  three  times,  and  kept  clear  of  weeds.  When 
the  corn  fodder  is  all  disposed  of,  the  corn  patch  should  be  plowed, 
and  seeded  with  about  a  peck  of  rye,  and  a  pint  of  timothy  seed, 
and  in  the  following  spring  a  quart  of  clover  seed  should  be  sown 
upon  the  rye.  These  crops  will  give  the  land  a  complete  rotation 
every  six  years.  The  following  diagram  indicates  the  proper  suc- 
cession of  the  crops  and  shows  the  plot  of  land  divided  into  six 
equal  parts,  containing  one-eighth  of  an  acre  each  : 


Ut  Tear.  | 

ind  Tear. 

3r<l,  Year. 

4th  Year. 

6M  Year.  I 

m  Year. 

Clover. 

ArUchokes. 

Artichokes. 

Corn. 

Rye. 

Clover. 

Clover. 

Artichokca. 

Corn. 

Rye. 

Oata. 

Clover. 

Articliokee. 

Corn. 

Corn. 

Rye. 

Clover. 

ArtichokeB. 

Articlioku8. 

Corn. 

Rye. 
Corn. 

Clover. 

Articiiokes. 

Rye. 

Clover. 

Clover  occupies  two  parts,  rye  one  part,  and  Jerusalem  Arti- 
chokes two  parts  every  year.  Clover  follows  rye;  rye  follows 
corn;  corn  follows  artichokes;  and  artichokes  follow  clover. 
Every  year  one-half  of  th<>  clover,  namely,  the  two  year-old  clover 
patch,  is  plowed,  and  planted  in  artichokes.  The  latter  must  be 
planted  anew,  and  not  be  allowed  to  grow  as  a  "volunteer  crop," 
but  must  be  regularly  cultivated,  and  all  the  plants  that  come  up 
between  the  hills  destroyed.  • 

The  manure  d  .rived  from  the  cow  during  the  winter,  should  be 
spread  In  spring  on  the  land  mtended  for  corn  and  artichokes,  and 
plowed  down,  and  that  made  in  summer  should  be  applied  to  the 
rye  and  clover  patches  in  fall.  Ashes  and  a  moderate  quantity 
of  lime,  spread  on  the  clover  patch  early  in  spring,  will  be  bene- 
ficial, and  a  peck  of  gypsum  scattered  on  the  young  and  growing 
clover,  will  answer  an  excellent  purpose  as  a  healthy  stimulant  of 
its  growth. 

The  spring  time  of  the  first  year  must  be  tided  over  with  hay 
until  the  clover  is  large  enough  for  soiling.    Green  clover  i?  tbeu 


t  i  III 


i  I 


m- 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


69 


fed  to  the  cow  until  the  oats  are  sufficiently  advanced.  The  oats 
arc  then  used  as  long  as  they  are  fit  for  the  purpose,  cutting  them 
a  second  time  as  far  as  practicable,  and  tne  residue,  if  any,  is 
cured  for  hay  before  it  gets  too  ripe  lor  tliat  purpose.  Tlie 
same  course  is  pursued  with  the  rye  in  the  following  years.  The 
clover  should  be  cut  for  hay  rather  early,  in  order  to  get  it  in 
the  best  possible  condition,  and  to  insure  a  good  second,  and  per- 
haps a  tliird  crop.  All  the  aftermath  not  used  in  soiling,  should 
be  converted  into  hay.  When  the  oats  are  exhausted,  clover  is  fed 
until  the  corn  fodder  is  large  enough  tor  use.  This  is  fed  until  the 
ears  make  their  ajipearance,  au'l  what  is  then  left  is  cut  and  cured 
for  dry  fodder  during  winter.  After  the  green  corn  fodder  is  all 
consumed,  there  will  be  a  growth  of  new  clover  in  the  oats 
stubble  the  first  year,  and  in  the  rye  stubble  in  after  years,  with 
which  the  cow  is  soiled  until  the  artichokes  are  ready  to  feed,  and 
if  any  of  the  new  clover  is  left  by  that  time,  it  is  made  into'hay. 
The  artichokes  are  fed  raw  ;  in  winter,  with  hay  and  other  dry 
fodder,  and  as  long  as  they  Inst  in  spring. 

In  the  second  year  soiling  begins  with  rye,  and  continues  after- 
wards through  the  season  the  same  as  the  first  year,  and  a  like 
course  is  followed  in  succeeding  years. 

FEEDING    ARTICHOKES. 

The  artichokes  will  grow  until  frost  kills  the  stalks,  and  a 
patch  of  one-quarter  of  an  acre,  when  the  soil  is  in  good  condi- 
tion, will  yield  a  yearly  average  of  between  two  hundred  and  fifty 
and  three  hundred  bushels  of  them.  They  can  be  fed  before 
they  are  quite  ripe,  in  which  case  the  cow  will  eat  up  the  whole 
plant — root,  stalk,  and  branch.  She  must  not  have  access  to  a 
heap  of  the  tubers,  lest  she  surfeit  and  seriously  injure  herself. 
As  long  as  the  whoK;  plant  is  fed,  she  should  not  be  allowed  more 
at  a  lime  than  she  will  eat  up  clean,  for  if  she  gets  more  she  will 
eat  the  tubers,  and  refuse  the  stalks.  In  fact  she  will  prefer  these 
tubers  at  all  times  to  any  other  food.  She  should  therefore  receive 
a  certain  allowance,  say  a  peck  or  a  little  more,  three  times  a  day, 
so  that  she  will  eat  up  the  stalks,  and  also  a  small  portion  of  other 
forage  with  them.  In  winter  and  spring  she  will  consume  a 
bushel  or  more  of  the  raw  tubers  a  day,  together  with  eight  or  ten 
pounds  of  hay  or  other  dry  food.  Her  ration  of  artichokes  should 
nevei  be  so  large  that  she  will  reject  other  food. 

Artichokes  can  be  fed  for  about  eight  months  of  the  year,  say 
from  the  first  of  October  to  the  first  of  June,  during  which  time 


II 


70 


KEEPIKG  ONE  COW. 


the  cow  will  consume  two  hundred  and  forty  bushels,  or  more,  of 
them.  These,  with  the  hay  and  other  dry  fodder,  will  keep  her 
in  excellent  condition,  and  produce  an  abundance  of  good  milk 
without  additional  food.  One  ton  of  hay  or  other  dry  fodder,  in 
connection  with  the  artichokes,  will  last  during  the  said  eight 
months,  affording  the  cow  eight  or  nine  pounds  a  day.  Three- 
quarters  of  a  ton  ma,y  suffice,  but  she  should  not  have  less  than 
this.  If  the  crop  of  hay  and  otlier  dry  fodder  exceeds  a  ton,  it 
may  all  be  fed  during  the  first  year,  or  a  part  of  it  may  be  kept 
over  for  the  ensuing  year.  In  slowing  away  the  hay,  ten  or 
twelve  quarts  of  salt  should  be  scattered  through  a  ton  of  it,  to 
impart  a  relish.  In  addition  to  this,  the  cow  should  receive  two 
or  three  ounces  of  salt  daily,  and  plenty  of  pure  fresh  water. 

HARVESTING    ARTICHOKES. 

The  artichokes  should  remain  in  the  ground  in  autumn  as  long 
as  the  weather  permits,  and  be  fed  out  of  the  field  during  that 
timo,  and  just  before  the  earth  is  permanently  frost-bound,  enough 
of  them  should  be  dug  up  to  last  overwinter;  and,  since  frost 
docs  not  injure  them,  the  rest  should  be  left  in  the  ground  until 
the  following  spring,  A  good  way  to  keep  them  in  winter,  is  to 
place  them  on  the  ground  in  the  field  in  shallow  layers,  covering 
them  lightly  with  the  stalks  of  the  artichoke,  or  with  straw,  and 
then  with  a  little  earth.  If  the  rain  wets  them  it  will  not  injure 
them.  It  is  advisable  always  to  keep  a  considerable  quantity  of 
them  in  the  stable  or  cellar  for  convenience  of  feeding.  In  the 
ensuing  spring,  they  are  again  fed  out  of  the  field  until  it  is  time 
to  plow  the  land,  when  all  the  tubers  not  yet  disposed  of,  are 
taken  up  and  kept  in  the  cellar  or  stable. 

THE    STALKS 

of  the  Jerusalem  Artichoke  furnish  excellent  material  for  litter 
for  the  cow.  They  grow  to  a  hight  of  from  eight  to  ten  feet,  are 
composed  almost  entirely  of  pith,  and  are  so  fragile  that  they  can 
easily  be  broken  into  fragments.  As  many  of  them  should  be 
stowed  in  the  stable  as  it  will  contain,  and  the  rest,  if  any,  should 
be  stacked  outside.  Before  bedding  the  cow  with  them,  it  is 
advisable  to  crush  them  with  a  mallet  on  a  block  prepared  for  the 
purpose.  This  labor  will  require  but  a  few  minutes  daily  to  pro- 
vide sufficient  litter,  and  will  make  a  comfortable  bed  for  the  cow, 
absorbing  and  retaining  the  liquid  manure.  The  stalks  cannot  be 
used  for  fodder  after  being  frost-killed. 
If  the  food  of  the  cow  should  at  any  time  run  short  thede- 


KEEPIKG  ONE  COW. 


n 


ficiency  must  be  supplied,  for  it  will  not  do  to  stint  her,  and  if  it 
is  ever  found  necessary  to  change  or  modify  her  diet,  it  should 
be  done. 

I  have  allowed  three-quarters  of  an  acre  for  the  sustenance  of 
the  cow,  and  this  will  be  suflScient,  but  only  on  condition  that 
the  land  is  in  good  heart.  If  the  land  is  poor  at  the  start,  it  will 
be  safer  to  begin  with  more,  and  afterwards  to  reduce  the  quantity 
to  three-quarters  of  an  acre,  as  the  soil  increases  in  fertility.  The 
value  of  clover  as  a  renovator  of  the  soil  is  well  known,  but  the 
Jerusalem  Artichoke  is  equally  efficacious,  if  fed  on  the  farm,  for 
it  attracts  its  nitrogen  to  a  great  extent  from  the  atmosphere.  The 
dairy-farm  now  under  discussion  possesses  all  the  advantages  that 
can  be  derived  from  these  plants  as  fertilizers,  and  as  the  other 
crops  raised  on  it  do  not  injuriously  exhaust  the  soil,  being  cut 
before  they  produce  then-  seed,  the  land  will  improve  indefinitely 
in  fertility. 

THE    CALF   AND    THE    CARE    OF    IT. 

'Since  the  plants  here  recommended  for  the  nourishment  of  the 
«ow,  afford  the  best  milk-producing  food  the  whole  year  round, 
the  time  of  calving  may  be  left  to  the  option  of  the  owner,  for  it 
will  not  affect  the  quantity  of  milk  that  the  cow  gives.  If  the 
milk  is  mostly  needed  in  summer,  the  cow  should  calve  in  spring, 
and  if  it  be  desirable  to  have  more  milk  in  winter,  she  should  calve 
in  autumn.  I  might  add,  that  if  the  butter,  or  a  part  of  it,  is  to 
be  sold,  it  will  be  more  profit;  i)le  to  have  the  calf  in  fall  than  in 
any  other  season,  because  butter  brings  the  highest  prices  in 
winter. 

The  disposal  of  the  calf  depends  on  circumstances,  of  which 
the  owner  is  the  best  judge.  If  he  concludes  to  keep  it  on  account 
of  the  value  of  the  breed,  or  for  any  other  reason,  he  should  raise  it 
by  hand,  not  allowing  it  to  suck  more  than  three  days  at  furthesto 
For  the  first  few  days  it  should  receive  only  the  fresh  milk  of  the 
cow ;  afterwards  it  may  be  fed  on  warm  fresh  milk,  skim-milk, 
buttermilk,  whey,  and  hay-tea,  until  it  is  old  enough  to  subsist  on 
solid  food.  Fresh  milk  should  be  the  leading  diet  in  the  begin- 
ning, and  should  be  gradually  diminished  in  quantity  as  the  calf 
increases  in  strength.  Hay-tea  is  made  by  pouring  boiling  water 
on  hay,  and  letting  it  steep  for  about  two  hours.  If  the  calf  is 
not  to  be  raised,  it  ought  to  be  sold  before  it  is  a  week  old,  be- 
cause the  milk  that  it  drinks  before  it  is  ready  for  the  shambles, 
is  worth  more  than  the  price  it  will  bring.    If  a  purchaser  for  th« 


m 


i| 


n 


Keeping  one  cow. 


-i     I 


calf  cannot  be  found  while  it  is  so  young,  it  is  most  profitable  to 
kill  it,  and  bury  it  in  the  compost  heap,  as  soon  as  the  millc  of  the 
cow  is  fit  to  use.  I  simply  state  this  as  a  fact,  without  recom- 
mending it  to  be  done,  for  it  is  cruel  work ;  but  so  is  any  butcher- 
ing, and  if  the  calf  is  to  be  killed,  it  really  matters  not  how  soon 
it  is  done.  The  sooner  it  is  removed  from  the  cow  the  less  she  will 
grieve  for  its  loss. 

CALVING. 

The  cow  should  be  milked  as  long  as  her  milk  is  good,  or  until 
she  runs  dry,  which  may  in  some  cases  be  six  or  eight  weeks  of 
calving  (in  others  not  at  all.)  Her  rations  should  be  curtailed  a 
little  for  a  short  time  before  that  period,  in  order  to  carry  her 
safely  through  the  crisis.  After  she  has  the  calf,  she  may  receive 
warm  bran-mashes  for  a  day  or  two,  containing  a  little  of  her  own 
milk,  and  should  not  be  fully  fed  for  the  first  few  days.  This 
treatment  is  all  that  is  required  before  and  after  tiie  period  of 
calving.  The  cow  will  generally  pass  through  this  event  in  safety, 
without  assist  nee.  Should  there,  however,  be  a  false  presenta- 
tion, or  other  difllculty  of  parturition,  the  best  thing  the  owner 
can  do,  if  he  has  no  experience  in  the  matter,  is  to  call  to  his  aid 
a  veterinary  surgeon,  or  a  neighbor  who  knows  what  course  to 
pursue  in  such  cases. 

As  long  as  the  cow  is  fresh,  and  yields  a  large  flow  of  milk,  she 
should  be  milked  three  times  a  day,  early  in  the  morning,  at  noon, 
and  late  in  the  evening;  afterwards  two  milkings  daily,  will  be 
sufficient.  She  should  be  fed,  watered,  milked,  carded,  and  led 
out  of  and  into  the  stable,  at  the  same  hours  every  day.  She 
should  not  be  beaten,  or  pelted,  or  harshly  spoken  to  or  dealt  with 
in  any  manner.  Kind  and  considerate  treatment  inspires  her  with 
confidence  and  contentment,  makes  her  the  pet  and  delight  of  the 
household,  and  is  rewarded  by  an  abundance  of  wholesome  milk. 
But  there  are  many  matters  of  detail  in  keeping  a  cow,  which  it  is 
impossible  to  notice  in  a  limited  essay  like  this.  If  the  owner  de- 
sires to  be  fully  informed  on  the  subject,  he  will  do  well  to  pur- 
chase a  few  books  that  treat  upon  the  subject. 

The  stable  for  the  cow  should  be  warm,  dry,  well  ventilated, 
and  large  enough  to  contain  two  or  three  tons  of  hay  and  litter, 
together  with  other  material  to  be  described  hereafter,  besides  a 

stfill  far  t.hfi  rn-w   nnrl  rr»om  for  thf  r»\M'       Tf  tho  oTOp^r  /-.f  *Un  ^^t»t 

has  a  stable  that  fulfils  these  requirements,  it  will  answer  his  pur- 
pose if  he  makes  a  proper  stall  in  it.    If  he  has  no  stable,  and  can- 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


73 


not  afford  the  expense  of  building  a  j?ood  one,  he  must  at  least 
have  a  proper  stall  to  save  the  manure  of  the  cow,  and  to  shelter 
her  from  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  A  stable  that  will  fully 
answer  this  purpose,  should  be  at  least  fourteen  feet  square,  and 
about  twelve  feet  high  to  the  eaves,  and  should  have  a  loft  for 
storing  hay.  The  annexed  figures  represent  such  a  structure  in 
outline  : 

Figure  17  is  a  ground  plan,  and  shows  that  the  lower  story  is  di- 
vided into  two  parts,  S,  representing  the  stall,  and  li,  all  the 
remaining  portion  below.  The  stall  is  ten  feet  long,  and  should 
be  five,  or  nearly  five  feet  wide ;  ^f,  represents  the  manger,  which 
is  about  two  feet  deep,  eighteen  inches  wide,  and  in  length  equal 


R 

d 

tI    m    1 

1 
S 

r      B       : 

Fig.  17. 


Fig.  18. 


to  the  width  of  the  stall.  The  cow  is  tied  to  the  manger  with  a 
halter  or  chain ;  T,  is  a  trough  in  the  manger  for  feeding  roots, 
salt,  etc.,  and  is  about  one  foot  wide,  eight  inches  deep,  and  in 
length  equal  to  the  width  of  the  manger.  The  floor  of  the  stall 
should  slope  a  little  to  the  rear,  and  must  be  water-tight,  so  as  to 
conduct,  the  urine  of  the  cow  into  the  brine-pit,  II  The  floor  may 
be  composed  of  cement,  or  of  two-inch  plank  closely  fitted  together. 
The  brine-pit,  B,  consists  of  a  water  tight  box  made  of  plank,  and 
should  be  about  one  foot  wide,  six  inches  deep,  and  in  length  equal 
to  the  width  of  the  stall.  This  pit  is  sunk  into  the  ground  so  that 
its  top  is  on  a  level  with  the  floor,  in  order  that  it  may  receive  all 
the  liquid  discharges  of  the  cow  that  are  not  absorbed  by  the  litter. 
If  the  floor  is  laid  in  cement  the  ]nt  may  be  made  of  the  same 
material.  Tlie  object  of  the  brine-pit  is  to  save  the  liquid  manure  ; 
to  accomplish  whicu  the  lutler  must  be  retained  by  some  absorbent. 

4 


I 


)«  1 


u 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


Dry  earth  is  used  for  this  purpose.  At  first  the  bottom  of  tfce'  pit 
is  eovered  with  dry  earth,  and  as  soon  as  this  is  moist,  more  earth 
is  added  until  the  pit  is  full  of  the  saturated  substance,  when  tl>^ 
latter  is  thrown  upon  the  compost  heap,  and  the  same  process 
repeated.  A  door  is  placed  at  e,  for  admitting  the  cow,  and  carry- 
ing away  the  manure.  The  partition  between  S  and  li  may  be 
made  of  boards  or  rails,  and  need  not  be  over  four  feet  high. 

The  division,  A»,  is  used  for  keeping  litter,  dry  earth,  artichoke 
roots,  green  fodder,  and  the  calf.  It  should  have  a  door  at  some 
convenient  place  for  entrance  from  the  outside,  and  a  window  with 
a  glass-frame,  preferably  on  the  south  side.  It  is  in  communica- 
tion with  the  stall  by  means  of  a  gate  at  d. 

Figure  18  is  a  view  of  the  gable-end,  /.,  representing  the  loft  for 
storing  hay  and  otli  t  dry  fodder.    The  'oft  has  a  shutter  in  one 
of  the  gable-ends  or  sides,  and  a  ladder  or  steps  running  up  to  it, 
from  within,  for  convenience  of  feeding.    1\  is  a  post  in  the  corner 
of  the  manger.     The  oy.cr  letters  in  figure  18  indicate  the  same, 
parts  as  in  figure  17. 

The  cow-yard  will  be  large  enough  if  it  contains  an  area  of  two. 
square  rods;  but  it  can  be  made  somewhat  larger  with  advanta^-e. 
It  ought  to  adjoin  the  stable  so  as  to  give  the  cow  direct  access°tO' 
the  stall ;  and  ought  to  be  shaded  by  trees  in  order  to  afford  shelter- 
to  the  cow  from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun  in  summer.    The  cow 
should  be  kept  in  the  yard  only  a  part  of  the  day,  and  the  rest  of 
the  time  she  should  be  in  the  stall.    The  stall-door  should  be  left 
open  when  she  is  in  the  yard,  so  that  she  can  enter  the  stable  at 
will.     Some  manure  will  be  lost  by  suffering  her  to  run  in  the 
yard ;  but  the  benefit  that  she  will  derive  from  it,  in  health  and 
contentment,  will  more  than  compensate  for  the  loss. 

MAKING    AND    SAVING    MANUKE. 

The  compost  heap  may  be  kept  in  the  cow-yard,  and  must  be  in 
the  shade.  It  should,  therefore,  be  placed  on  the  north  side  of  the 
stable,  and  trees  should  be  planted  east  and  west  of  it.  It  must  not 
bo  under  cover  nor  washed  by  running  water,  nor  receive  the 
water  from  the  roof  of  the  stable ;  but  the  rain  should  fall  on  it 
directly  from  the  skies  to  promote  decomposition,  and  to  prevent, 
the  escape  of  its  volatile  constituents.  The  manure  of  the  stall, 
and  the  saturated  earth  of  the  brine-pit,  are  mixed  together  to  fomk 
the  compost  heap,  and  all  iho  refuse  material  of  the  farm,  garden, 
and  yard,  should  be  thrown  on  it.  It  ought  to  be  kept  in  a  com- 
pact body,  level  on  top,  and  protected  by  boards  on  thv  sidea  to 


KEEPING   ONE   OOW. 


76 


prevent  it  from  spreading.    Nd  ashes  or  lime  should  ever  be 
applied  to  it. 

Regarding  the  material  for  absorbing  the  liquid  excretions  of  the 
cow,  nothing  better  can  be  found  than  prepared  muck ;  but  as  this 
is  seldom  obtainable,  the  scrapings  of  the  streets  of  a  city,  or  even 
cf  a  public  road,  may  be  use;l  instead.  If  these  cannot  be  had, 
t'le  surface  soil  of  the  dairy  farm  answer  the  purpose.  What- 
ever substance  is  employed  must  be  thoroughly  dried.  The  middle 
of  summer  is  the  proper  time  to  prepare  it.  About  four  cart  loads 
of  it,  as  dry  as  they  can  be  made,  should  be  kept  in  the  stable,  or 
in  some  other  place  where  it  is  not  liable  to  attract  moisture ;  and 
that  amount  will  last  the  year  round. 

CONCLUSIONS    ABOUT    ARTICHOKES. 

T  have  now  given  my  instructions  for  keeping  a  cow,  and  it  is 
evident  from  what  I  have  written,  that  the  Jerusalem  Artichoke  is 
my  main  dependence  for  her  support.  The  other  points  that  I 
have  touched  upon,  are  of  minor  importance,  when  compared 
with  the  value  that  I  have  attached  to  this  plant.  My  own  ex- 
perience with  the  plant  satisfies  me  that  I  have  not  overstated  its 
merits.  On  rich  land  a  single  stalk  will  produce  from  a  peck  to 
half  a  bushel  of  the  tubers.  Last  year  was  an  exceptinnably  un- 
favorable one  in  this  locality,  on  account  of  drouth  in  summer 
and  fall ;  and  yet  the  artichokes  that  I  planted  between  the  trees 
in  my  peach  orchard  yielded  abundantly.  I  have  fattened  cattle 
on  them  without  any  additional  food  excepting  a  little  hay,  until 
they  were  fit  for  the  butcher  ;  and  my  horses  thrive  on  tliem  when 
fed  in  connection  with  hay,  doing  full  work  without  grain.  A 
brother  of  mine  planted  artichokes  in  a  field  that  had  been  in 
cultivation  for  more  ihan  a  century,  and  yet  in  spite  of  the  drouth, 
of  indifferent  culture  without  manure,  and  of  an  early  frost  that 
prematurely  killed  the  plants,  the  yield  amounted  to  between  five 
hundred  and  six  hundred  bushels  to  the  acre. 

RURAL    ECONOMY. 

Boussingault  in  his  "Rural  Economy,"  pp.  159-160  says :  "  The 
Jerusalem  Artichoke  rises  to  a  bight  of  from  nine  to  ten  feet; 
it  flowers  late,  and  I  have  not  yet  seen  it  ripen  its  seeds.  It  is 
propagated  by  the  tubers  which  it  produces,  and  which  are  re- 
garded, for  good  reason  j  a  most  excellent  food  for  cattle.  *  *  There 
are  few  plants  more  hardy  and  so  little  nice  about  the  soil  as  the 
Jerusalem  Artichoke  ;  it  succeed.;  everywhere  with  the  single  con- 
dition that  the  ground  be  not  wet.  *  *  Of  all  the  plants  that  engage 


4    I.' 


'III 


76 


KEEPING   OXR  COW. 


the  Iiusl)andman,  the  Jernsalom  Articlioke  is  that  Avhich  produces 
tlif  most  at  the  least  expense  of  miinurc  and  niuniri!  labor,     Kude 
Rtites  that  a  square  patch  of  Jerusalem  Artichokes  in  a i^arden  was 
Btill   in   full   productive   vigor  at  the  end  of  thirty  three  years, 
throwing  out  stems  from  seven  to  ten  feet  in  length,  although  for  a 
very  long  time  the  plant  had   neither  received  any  care  or  any 
manure,     I  ctmld  quote  many  examples  of  the  great  reproductive 
power  of  the  Ileliantlius;  I  can  aflirm,  nevertheless,  that  in  order 
to  obtain  abundant  crops,  it  is  necessary  to  afford  a  little  manure. 
*  *  Schwertz  estimates  the  mean  quantity  of  dry  leaves  and  stems 
at  three  tons,  (me  cwt.,  one  quarter  and  fifteen  pounds  per  acre." 
Again,  p.  401  — "  Experiment  with  horses.— Jerusalem  potatoes 
are  held  excellent  food  for  the  horse  ;   they  are  eaten  jrreedily,  and 
he  thrives  on   them.     In  this  secrmd  experiment  80.8  pounds  of 
Jerusalems  cut  into  .slices  were  substituted  for  eleven  pounds  of 
hay,  the  same  theoretical  equivalents  being  assumed  for  tiiem  as 
for  the  common  potato.    The  ration  now  consisted  of  hay,  eleven 
pounds;  straw,  five  and  a  half  pounds;  oats,  sevea  and  a  half 
pounds,  and  Jerusalem  potatoes,  30.8  jiounds.     Having  been  ac- 
customed to  this  regimen  for  some  days,  the  teams  were  weighed 
and  having  gone  on  for  eleven  days,  they  were  weighed  again : 

Team  No.  I.  No.  2.  Both  Teams.    Mean  per  horse. 

In  eleven  days,  gain  55  loss  33  gain  22  gain  .9 

"  A  result  which  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  equivalent 
assumed  for  the  Jerusalem  potato  was  correct ;  the  animals  had 
done  their  work,  and  gained  one  with  another  nine-tentlw  of  a 
pound  in  weight." 

Again,  p.  406.— "One  hundred  pounds  of  good  meadow-hay 
may  be  taken,  as  ascertained  by  experiment,  to  be  equivalent  to 

280  of  Potatoes,  by  analysis  equal  to  315 

280  of  Jerusalems,  "  '<  3x1 

400  of  Beets,  "  ««  548 

400  of  Swedes  (too  little),   "  «  676 

400  of  Carrots  "  '«  332 

Again,  p.  415.—"  One  thousand  parts  (by  weight)  of  the  forage 
gathered  at  Bechelbroun  in  its  ordinary  state  contained: 

Mineral  Substances.     Azote.        Phos.  Acid.      Lime.     Bone  Earth. 
Potatoes,  9.64  3.70  1.09  17  33 

Beet,  7.70  2.10  .46  .54  "95 

Turnip,  5.70  1.30  .35  .63  *73 

Jerusalems,  12.47  3.75  l.;j5  .29  .m 

Again,  p.  449.—"  Seventh  experiment— with  a  cow  two  hundred 
and  ninety  days  after  calving.— In  this  trial  the  ration  consisted 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


77 


1"    r 


of  Jpnisalcm  potatoes  equivalent  to  thirty-three  pounds  of  hay, 
under  which  tlie  milk  may  be  said  to  have  remained  stationary, 
thoup^h  it  was  above  rather  than  under  tlie  six  pints  per  diem,  as 
in  the  sixth  experiment,"  (with  Irish  potatoes). 

I  consider,  therefore,  that,  according  to  experiment  and  analysis, 
the  Jerusalem  Articlioke  is  fully  equ*il  to  the  potato  as  food  for 
stock,  and  greatly  aui)erior  to  beets,  turnips,  and  carrots.  In  the 
regimen  that  I  have  prescribed  for  the  cow,  I  have  given  the  Jeru- 
salem Artichoke  the  preference  over  all  other  roots,  because  I 
deem  it  superior  to  them  m  all  respects.  It  contains  more  nutri- 
ment than  any  of  them,  excepting  the  potato  ;  it  is  less  exhaustive 
of  the  soil,  and  more  efHcacious  in  improving  it ;  it  produces  a 
larger  crop ;  it  is  less  liable  to  failure  in  adverse  weather ;  it  keeps 
better  and  with  less  care ;  it  is  eaten  with  a  greater  relish  by  stock ; 
and  it  requires  less  labor  in  cultivating,  harvesting,  and  feedmg  it 
Analysis  has  shown  that  it  contains  its  carbonaceous  principles  in 
the  form  of  sugar  instead  of  starch,  14.8  parts  of  uncrystallizable 
sugar  having  been  found  in  one  hundred  parts  of  the  tuber.  It 
has  no  starch  cells  to  be  broken  up  by  boiling,  in  order  to  make  it 
a  digestible  aliment ;  and  how  large  soever  the  tubers  may  be,  they 
can  be  fed  without  being  cut  into  slices,  on  account  of  their  fragil- 
ity and  brittleness,  being  masticated  by  the  cow  without  difficulty 
or  danger  of  choking. 

The  Jerusalem  Artichoke  is  little  known  and  cultivated  in  this 
country,  and  its  merits  are  not  fully  appreciated  anyv/hore.  The 
reason  probably  is  because  there  is  but  a  limited  demand  for  it  in 
the  market.  But  it  should  not  be  neglected  on  that  account ;  for 
it  is  not  the  less  valuable,  because  the  profits  derived  from  it  are 
indirect.  It  should  never  be  raised  as  a  volunteer  crop,  as  is  too 
often  the  case,  but  should  be  regularly  planted  and  worked  like 
other  products.  I  have  discussed  this  plant  as  advantageous  food 
for  "one"  cow,  and  I  may  add  that  it  is  equally  meritorious  for 
any  number  of  cows.  But  its  advantages  do  not  stop  here. 
Horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  swine,  thrive  and  fatten  on  it,  and  the 
millions  of  acres  of  exhausted  and  deteriorated  lands,  that  descend 
as  a  profitless  inheritance  from  generation  to  generation  in  the 
Eastern  and  Southern  States,  can  be  improved  and  kept  fertile, 
with  profit  to  the  farmer  during  the  process  of  renovation,  with- 
out the  aid  of  artificial  fertilizers  or  imported  manures,  by  feeding 
the  tubers  of  the  Jerusalem  Artichoke  to  stock  on  the  farm. 


78 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


VIEWS   AND    PPAr^TTCE    OF    A    PRACTiOAL 

f\Al{MEK. 

BY  *•.   B.   OOTT,    8PBNCERPORT,   N.   Y. 

Having  been  a  practical  fanner  all  my  life,  vlth  considerable 
expeiiencc  in  the  care  of  stock  and  dairying,  1  give  you  the  result 
of  my  experience.  The  system  of  manaij'^ment  which  woul  i  be 
profitably  adopted  by  one  woulvi  be  utterly  impracticable  for 
another.  In  my  own  case  I  have  about  one  acre  of  land,  one 
half  of  which  I  set  apart  for  production  of  food  for  my  cow, 
while  the  remainder  is  occupied  by  the  buildings  in  part,  and  the 
rest  18  devoted  to  the  culture  of  small  fruits.  Without  this  land 
I  should  be  obliged  to  hire  my  cow  pastured  tiirough  the  summer, 
at  a  cost  of  about  fifty  cents  per  week,  which  I  am  now  able  to 
save  by  practising  a  system  of  soiling.  The  advantages  of  which 
are  numerous. 

PROFIT  IN  BUYING   PART  OF  THE  FEED. 

1  am  aware  that  the  amount  of  land  which  I  have  devoted  to 
this  purpose  is  Inadeq  -ate.  One  acre  would  be  none  too  much  to 
supply  a  cow  with  food  through  the  year,  but  I  can  realize  more 
profit  by  purchasing  a  portion  of  the  necessary  food  and  devoting 
part  of  my  land  to  the  culture  of  small  fruits,  the  amount  of 
money  received  from  the  sales  of  which,  will  more  than  pay  for 
the  feed  that  I  could  raise  on  the  same  land. 

My  barn  (figs.  19  and  20)  is  inexpensive,  yet  it  answers  every 
purpose.  It  consists  of  a  box-pen  for  the  cow,  an  open  shed  and  a 
pig-Sly,  the  whole  covered  by  one  roof,  and  occupying  a  space 
twenty  feet  in  length  by  fourteen  feet  in  breadth.  It  is  constructed 
of  hemlock  lumber.  The  posts  on  the  front  are  twelve  feet  in 
bight,  while  those  on  the  back  side  are  eight.  It  is  boarded  ver- 
tically and  battened  on  the  sides,  and  the  roof  is  also  covered  with 
rough  boards,  laid  on  double,  breaking  joints  so  that  no  water  can 
leak  through.  The  box  for  the  cow  is  eight  feet  by  ten,  and  is  six 
feet  and  four  inches  high  in  the  clear.  Adjoining  this  is  a  feeding 
passage  four  feet  by  eight.  The  arrangement  of  doors  is  shown  in 
the  accompanying  sketch.  The  middle  portion  of  the  building  is 
an  open  shed,  and  is  sevsn  feet  wide  by  fourteen  feet  long.  It  la 
used  principally  for  storing  dry  muck  and  also  as  a  cover  for  the 
manure  pile.  Adjoining  the  open  shed  is  the  pig-pen.  While  the 
partitioQ  between  the  cow-stall  and  shed  is  carried  up  to  the  floor 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


70 


above,  making  a  tight  box  stall,  thai  between  the  pig-sty  and  ahed 
is  only  built  four  feet  from  the  ground,  leaving  the  upper  part 
open.  A  floor  is  laid  at  a  bight  of  six  feet  ten  inclies  from  the 
ground,  which  provides  stc   age  room  for  hay  above.    I    vould 


'  !' 


^ 

MEAL 

FEEDING 
PASSAGE. 

BOX 

4-  X  8 

1—-=—-        J 

OPEN  SHED. 

7  X14' 

STALL  FOR  COW 

/ 

8  ><10 

A 

1 

Fig.  19.— PLAN  OF   CUVV-SHED,   ETC. 

sugges  ,  as  an  improvement  to  this  plan,  that  the  whole  be  built 
two  feet  higher,  making  the  long  posts  fourteen  feet  instead  of 
twelve,  and  the  short  ones  ten  mstoad  of  eight,  thereby  securing 
more  room  abov       There  would  then  be  sufficient  room  for  the 


PERSPECTIVE  VIEW. 


Storage  of  over  two  thor;5uud  j;ouiius  of  clover  hay.  Of  course  the 
provision  I  ^  av  made  for  a  pig  is  outside  of  the  (juestion  under 
consideration,  but  in  view  o*  the  fact  that  wherever  a  cow  is  kept, 
#  pig  may  also  be  profitably  i    sed  and  fattened  s.n  the  skim-mili; 


1>i: 


80 


KEEPING   ONK  00 W. 


^i; 


and  much  that  would  othcrwl.^o  be  wasted,  nnd  at  the  sume  time 
InrrenHe  j^rcutly  tin-  vihic  of  the  nmiiure  heap,  I  think  such  pro- 
vision sliould  be  made,  espcciully  as  the  cost  of  surh  an  addition 
to  the  cow's  died  is  but  little.  In  case  it  is  not  dcsirabh;  to  keep 
a  pij,',  the  space  may  be  used  as  a  calf-pcu  or  for  the  storajje  of 
straw.  The  cost  of  the  building  wliich  I  have  described  sliould 
not  exceed  fifty  dollars. 

Tiie  only  way  to  secure  a  ^'ood  cow,  is  to  keep  trying  until  wo 
get  such  a  cow  as  we  want  and  then  liold  on  to  her.  We  m:iy 
liave  to  chancre  several  times  before  we  can  brin^'  this  about,  biit 
there  is  no  infallible  rule  for  selecting  a  good  cow.  Were  I  to 
select  one  for  myself,  I  should  select  one  not  over  live  years  old. 
of  gentle,  quiet  dispoiition,  with  a  large  barrel ;  one  whose  udder 
is  large  and  well  formed,  with  teats  set  well  apait,  of  good  size, 
and  projecting  slightly  outward  from  each  other,  and  with  large 
milk  veins. 

The  method  which  I  have  adopted  in  tlie  management  of  my 
cow,  has  this  in  its  favor,  that  it  has  been  highly  and  uniformly 
profitable  to  me. 

MANAGING    THE    MANURE    PILE, 

I  shall  first  present  my  mode  of  making  manure,  and  of  apply- 
ing   the    same.     The    prevalent   idea  among    tliose    who    keep 
a    single  cow  or  other  domestic   animal    is,   that  the   manure, 
instead  of  being  saved  and  protected  from  loss  with  the  greatest 
care,  is  a  nuisance,  which  should  be  summarily  disposed  of.     It  is 
an  established  fact  that  the  liquid  portion  of  the  excrement  nearly, 
if  not  quite,  equals  in  value  the  solid  portion,  and  in  order  to  save 
both  we  must  provide  some  means  by  winch  the  liquid  and  volatile 
portions  of  the  manure  may  lie  prevented  from  going  to  waste. 
This  is  best  accomplished  by  means  of  absorbents,  and  there  is 
nothing  better  or  cheaper  for  this  purpose  than  dried  muck  or 
eartli,  a  good  supply  of  which  should  be  constantly  kept  under 
cover  where  it  is  easily  accessible.    Fortunately  I  am  so  situated 
th:it  I  can  obtain  a  supply  quite  easily.    There  is  within  half  a 
mde  from  my  place  a  large  tract  of  swamp  land,  from  which  lean 
obtain,  for  a  low  price,  all  the  "  muck  "  I  need.    Every  fall,  1  store 
away  under  my  shed  a  sufficient  quantity  to  last  me  tlirougli  the 
winter.    This  had  previously  been  thrown  Into  p  los  and  dried.   It 
is  quite  essential  that  it  should  be  thoroughly  diied,  so  that  it  will 
readily  absorb  the  liquid  manure,  and  this  may  be  accomplished 
by  piling  and  allowing  it  to  be  exposed  to  sun  and  air  for  six 


KEEPINO  ONE   UOW. 


81 


months  or  a  year  before  wanted  for  use.    TI>o  bottom  of  the  still 
8  covered  w.th  ten  or  twelve  Inches  of  the  dry  muck,  over  wh id 
I  seatter  a  light  covering  of  cut  straw  or  sawd.L.  sc.  a.  t..  sec       a 
clean  bed,  and  prevent  the  particles  of  dirt  and  muck  from  sticking 
to  the  cow  and  dropping  from  thence  into  the  pail.    The  dry  earth 
ready  absorbs  the  hqu.d  droppings  and  whenever  it  becomeTsatu  . 
ated  w,th  the  same  may  be  removed,  together  with  the  manure  ar  <] 
soded  straw  to  a  pde  beneath  the  covered  shed,  when  a  fresh  s  p 
tZ  '!!'''\'T^''  '^  ^'^PJ"^^^  th«t  which  was  removed  is  ca  r    1 
in  and  the  whole  is  agam  covered  with  the  cut  straw.    An  occa- 
sional sprinkhng  of  plaster  (gypsum)  is  applied  both  to  the  lifter 
1.  the  stall  and  to  the  manure  heap,  which  prevents  any  lo  s  o 
ammonia,  and  hence  all  unpleasant  odors  are  avoided.    Whenever 
a  orkful  of  manure  is  put  on  the  pile,  it  is  immediately  covered 
with    muck.    Twice   each  year  this  is  hauled  on   to  the  land 
Manure  thus  treated  will  not  waste,  either  by  the  leachVmr  ooi 
of  solub  e  matter,  by  the  escape  of  immonia.'i^r  by  fiTfang    g 
And  as  there  IS  no  coarse  material,  such  as  long  Law  or  cor^i 
s  alks  mingled  with  it,  it  is  always  in  a  suitable  condition  to  iis 
If  dry  eartii  or  muck  cannot  be  obtained,  cut  straw  or  sawd  Jt 
m^  be  subst  tuted.    But  earth,  being  an   excellent  deod^ri  e 
tself.  and  containing,  as  it  does,  much  valuable  fertilizing  mat' 
ter,  18  much  to  be  preferred.  ^ 

If  artificial  fertilizers  are  used,  they  may  at  any  time  be  mixed 
with  the  compost  heap.  Also,  when  a  pig  is  kept,  its  pen  s^u  d 
be  cleaned  daily  and  the  litter,  mingled  with  L  general  p^ 
wm  add  greatly  to  its  value.  Common  salt  may  occasionally  be 
added  to  the  compost  heap  with  advantage,  but  ashes  never  as 
they  tend  to  liberate  the  ammonia  and  thereby  cause  waste      ' 

YARD    KOOM    AND  EXERCISE. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  have  a  large  yard  connected  with  the 
stable,  as  a  cow  is  seldom  inclined  to  exercise  her  locomotrve  po  w 
ers  more  than  is  required  to  secure  her  food,  and       th's 
placed  before  her  at  suitable  times  and  in  sufficient  quantUy  to 
supply  her  demands,  she  will   remain  perfectly  contented  i^  an 
enclosure  twenty  feet  square.    In  planning  our  buildings  let  us 
bear  m  mind  that  sunlight  is  essential  to  ;erfect  health^  Thl" 
.ore  we  shoula  have  the  yard  on  the  sunny  side  of  the  building 

wh  re  the  cow  may  take  herself  during  intense  heat     l^Zl 
m  this  direction  ib  sufficient,    j^othing  can  be  more  cruel  than 


bi* 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


li  !' 


to  force  any  dumb  animal  to  stand  exposed  to  the  rays  of  an 
August  mid-day  sun,  or  where  she  is  tormented  neirly  to  death  by 
flies.  Yet  we  often  see  just  such  inhuman  neglect  on  the  part 
of  those  who  should  know  better. 

Although  in  many  respects  desirable,  a  pasture  lot  is  not  ab- 
solutely essential,  and  in  the  case  of  the  villager,  whose  land  is 
measured  by  feet  instead  of  acres,  it  must  be  dispensed  with. 
Hence  we  have  recourse  to  what  is  termed  the  soiling  system, 
which  is  simply  cultivating  such  crops  as  will  produce  a  succession 
of  green  food  throughout  the  season,  and  placing  the  same  before 
the  cow  in  such  quantities  and  at  such  times  as  she  may  require, 
instead  of  allowing  her  to  tramp  around  after  her  teed,  and 
thereby  waste  more  than  she  eats.  It  requires  some  skill  and 
judgment  to  carry  out  this  plan  successfully,  but  wherever  it  has 
been  practised  judiciously  and  intelligently,  the  results  have  been 
uniformly  satisfactory.  ;As  to  what  amount  of  land  is  required  in 
order  to  keep  a  cow  through  the  year,  I  will  not  pretend  to  say  ; 
nor  do  I  think  it  advisable  to  try  to  produce  the  entire  amount  of 
food  required  for  a  full  year's  sustenance. 

HAY. 

I  know  that  for  me  it  is  far  better  to  purchase  what  hay  will  be 
needed  to  feed  throu  h  the  winter  than  to  attempt  to  grow  it. 
Besides,  our  village  lots  are  much  too  small  to  be  profitably  con- 
verted into  hay  fields,  and  even  if  there  should  be  more  land  than 
is  necessary  to  furnish  the  soiling  crops  for  summer  feeding, 
i*^  is  usually  much  better  economy  to  employ  the  same  in  the  cul- 
tivation of  small  fruits,  which,  as  I  have  before  stated,  more  than 
pay?  for  what  hay  is  required,  besides  supplying  us  with  many 
luxuries. 

In  my  own  case,  I  have  set  apart  one-half  of  an  acre  from  which 
to  supply  the  cow  with  food  during  a  period  extending  from  May 
lirst  to  November  first.  Now  this  will  be  entirely  insufficient, 
except  under  the  very  best  cultivation  and  management,  which,  of 
course,  I  am  bound  to  bestow  upon  it.  That  it  is  sufficient,  with 
proper  care,  I  have  repeatedly  proved.  Such  results  could  hardly 
be  expected,  however,  from  land  which  has  received  no  previous 
preparation,  and  is  worn,  wormy,  and  weedy.  Let  us  assume,  then, 
that  our  half  acre  is  in  a  good,  fair  state  of  productiveness.  To 
produce  a  continuous  supply  of  wholesome  fodder,  I  find  a  system 
of  rotation  must  be  practised,  and  have  subdivided  my  half  acre 
into  four  equal  parts,  containing  each  one-eighth  of  an  acre,  or 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


83 


twenty  scjuare  rods.  Those  I  shall  designate  as  plots  one,  two, 
three,  and  four  Plot  one  is  at  the  present  time  in  clover,  having 
been  seeded  one  year  ai^o,  and  will  be  ready  for  use  about  June. 
Plot  two  was  sown  to  winter  rye  last  October,  and  will  be 
seeded  down  with  clover  this  sprnii?.  From  this  patch  of  rye  I 
shall  obtain  the  earliest  feed,  and  will  begin  using  it  about  May 
first.  Plot  three  will  be  sown  with  corn,  drilled  thickly  in  rows 
two  and  a  half  feet  apart,  which,  if  sown  as  soon  as  danger  from 
frost  is  past,  will  be  ready  for  use  about  August  first.  Plot  four 
will  be  sown  to  mangels  or  sugar  beets.  I  prefer  the  latter,  and 
this  is  the  only  crop  cultivated  for  winter  use.  Both  this  crop  and 
the  corn  are  planted  with  a  garden  seed  drill,  while  the  rye  is  sown 
broadcast.  On  the  first  of  May  I  begin  cutting  the  rye.  Up  to 
this  time  the  cow  has  been  fed  on  clover  hay,  and  grain. 

I  calculate  to  have  the  cow  drop  her  calf  at  about  April  first.  To 
this  end  I  have  her  served  about  June  twenty-fifth.  Of  course, 
we  cannot  always  have  our  own  way  in  this  matter,  but,  accident 
excepted,  we  can  usually  manage  so  as  to  approximate  the  time. 
During  a  period  of  a  few  days  subsequent  to  parturition,  I  feed 
quite  sparingly— however,  allowing  her  all  the  long  hay  she  will 
eat,  together  with  a  peck  of  beets  twice  a  day,  but  no  grain  of 
any  kind,  this  reduced  ration  being  necessary  to  avoid  the  danger 
which  might  result  from  the  too  abundant  secretion  of  milk  at 
this  time,  which  high  feeding  would  tend  to  produce.  If  at  the 
end  of  the  fifth  day  'after  calving,  no  bad  results  have  occurred, 
such  as  milk  fever,  and  there  is  little  or  no  caking  of  the  bag,  I 
begin  to  gradually  in(!rease  the  f(,'ed,  until,  at  the  tenth  day,  I 
reach  the  normal  standard,  which  is  as  follows : 

DAILY    FEEDING. 

At  half-past  five  a.  m.  I  feed  her  four  quarts  of  a  mixture  con- 
sisting of  one  part  each  of  corn  meal  and  oat  meal,  and  two  parts 
of  bran.  Four  quarts  of  this  is  mixed  with  a  heaping  half  bushel 
of  cut  (chaff'ed)  hay,  moistened  but  not  soaked.  While  she  is 
occupied  in  eating,  I  clean  the  manure  from  the  stable,  remove  all 
dirt  from  her  udder,  and  any  that  would  be  likely  to  drop  into 
the  pail  while  milking.  Sometimes  a  sponge  and  water  are  re- 
quired to  accomplish  this,  but  usually  an  old  piece  of  a  blanket 
kept  for  the  purpose  is  all  that  is  necessary.  I  then  milk  and 
carry  the  milk  directly  to  the  house  before  it  has  time  to  cool  or 
absorb  odors,  wlsich,  even  with  the  utmost  care  and  cleanliness 
cannot  be  entirely  avoided.    After  breakfast.  I  give  the  cow  ^ 


:'  -I 

s    i  '■ 

i  . 

I 

I, 

II 


Ir 


r 


84 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


f]ti!l 


peck  of  sliced  beets,  on  which  has  been  sprinkled  about  a  dessert 
spoonful  of  salt,  which  completes  her  breakfast.  At  this  time  it 
is  a  very  good  plan  to  use  the  curry  comb  or  card  for  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  though  I  must  confess  that  I  sometimes  neglect  this  part 
of  the  programme :  still  I  think  that  my  cow  gets  far  more  indul- 
gence in  this  direction  than  most  cows  in  the  neighborhood.  After 
she  has  finished  eating,  if  the  weather  is  not  too  unfavorable,  I 
allow  her  to  run  out  in  the  yard,  where,  at  noon,  I  give  her  just 
as  much  long  hay  a ;  she  will  eat  up  clean,  and  no  more 

There  is  at  all  times  plenty  of  fresh  water  in  the  yard,  to  which 
she  can  help  herself  whenever  she  so  desires ;  otherwise  she  would 
need  to  have  it  supplied  to  her  at  least  twice  a  day,  but  not  im- 
mediately before  or  after  a  feed  of  grain.    At  half-past  five  in  the 
afternoon  she  receives  the  same  amount  of  food,  and  prepared  in 
the  same  manner  as  in  the  morning.     This  method  is  continued 
until  the  crop  of   rye  is  large  enough  for  use.     All  changes 
from  dry  to  green  feed  must  be  made  gradually,  if  we  would 
avoid  loss.    By  this  time  our  supply  of  roots  will  be  exhausted, 
but  the  green  food,  in  a  measure,  takes  the  place  of  them.  I  con- 
tinue to  give  the  same  amount  of  grain  throughout  the  summer 
as  I  did  through  the  month  of  April,  and  also  to  mix  it  with 
chaffed  hay  slightly  moistened,  as  this  insures  the  complete  masti- 
cation and  thorough  intermmgling  with  the  saliva,  which  is  so 
essential  to  perfect  digestion  and  assimilation.    As  the  supply  of 
green  food  increases,  I  diminish  the  quantity  of  chaffed  hay  until 
but  one-half  the  former  amount  is  used,  which  quantity  is  con- 
tinued through  the  soiling  season.     The  one-eighth  acre  of  rye 
will  last  until  about  June  fifteenth,  at  which  time  the  red  clover 
will  be  large  enough  to  feed.    We  should  not  change  abruptly 
from  one  kind  of  green  food  to  another,  but  increase  the  one  and 
diminish  the  other  gradually  until  the  change  is  complete.    To 
ascertain  the  exact  amount  needed  for  a  feed  of  this  kind,  as  well 
as  of  the  other  green  crops,  requires  some  judgment  on  the  part  of 
the  feeder ;  but  a  very  safe  rule  is  to  feed  just  such  an  amount  as 
the  cow  will  eat  clean,  and  no  more.    We  cannot  specify  exactly 
what  would  be  a  proper  amount  in  every  case,  neither  can  we 
spend  time  to  weigh  each  ration,  but,  by  observing  carefully,  we 
are  enabled  to  determine  very  closely.    I  find  that  my  cow  will 
eat,  besides  her  other  feed,  a  good  armful  of  green  fodder  three 
times  a  day.    I  always  cut  a  day's  supply  on  the  afternoon  pre- 
ceding, and  allow  it  to  remain  in  the  swath,  where  it  will  wilt, 
and  a  portion  of  the  water  evaporate,  thereby  rendering  it  more 


c 


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KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


6i 


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■wholesome  than  when  fed  immediately  after  cutting,  and  I  think 
my  cow  relishes  it  better.  By  the  flftaenth  or  twentieth  of  July 
the  clover  will  have  become  so  ripe  as  to  necessitate  the  cutting 
and  curing  of  any  that  may  be  left  at  that  time.  It  may  still  be 
fed,  however,  for  a  few  days,  or  until  the  sowed  com  becomct 
large  enough  to  take  its  place,  which  is  generally  about  the  first  ol 
August.  This  crop,  and  the  second  cutting  of  the  clover,  will  com- 
plete the  course,  and  will  furnish  feed  until  well  along  into  October, 

or  the  first  of  November,  after  which  I  depend  on  purchased  food. 

t 

WINTER  FEED  AND  TREATMENT. 

If  not  previously  done,  I  now  procure  three  thousand  pounds  of 
the  best  early  cut  clover  hay.  As  my  shed  is  not  sufficiently  large 
to  store  away  this  amount,  I  am  obliged  to  stack  part  of  it.  I  also 
procure  bran  and  meal.  The  amount  of  these  which  I  require  for 
a  year's  supply  is :  of  bran,  one  thousand  pounds ;  of  corn  meal, 
one  thousand  pounds  ;  and  of  oat  meal,  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds.  These  amounts,  well  mixed  together,  will  furnish  a  feed 
of  eight  quarts  per  day,  which  amount  is  diminished  during  the 
period  in  which  the  cow  is  dry,  and  is  sometimes  increased,  if  by 
any  means  other  food  is  short.  It  is  not  advisable  to  procure  all 
this  feed  at  once,  for,  if  stored,  it  would  be  quite  likely  to  heat  and 
mould  before  it  could  be  used,  besides  being  subject  to  loss  f.om 
rats  and  other  vermin.  I  therefore  procure  one-sixth  of  this 
amount,  or  two  months'  supply  at  a  time,  and  I  have  cften  found 
it  convenient  and  profitable  to  buy  tUe  corn  and  oats  and  have 
them  ground  myself.  The  course  pursued  in  feeding  from  No- 
vember first  until  February  fifteenth,  at  which  time  the  cow 
becomes  dry,  is  similar  .  hat  which  I  have  described  for  the 
month  of  April.  It  is  better  to  dry  off  the  cow  four,  five,  or  even 
six  weeks  prior  to  calving.  Sometimes,  in  order  to  do  this,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  omit  the  grain  and  diminish  the  quantity  of  roots 
for  a  few  days,  but  after  she  becomes  quite  dry  I  resume  feeding 
as  before,  except  perhaps  to  lessen  the  amount  of  grain  until 
within  0,  few  days  of  calving,  when  I  omit  the  grain  entirely  until, 
as  I  ha  V    ^  ''^'ore  stated,  the  danger  from  milk  fever,  etc.,  is  past. 

CALVING. 

Some  people  continue  to  milk  their  cows  until  within  a  very 
short  time  of  calving.  This  is  very  poor  economy.  The  milk 
at  such  times  is  thin  and  iusipid,  and  unfit  for  food.  I  have 
|ioY(>|>  found  an^  "  nrenaratorv  treatment"  f)f  the  cow  prior  to  par- 
turition, such  as  physicing,  etc.,  to  be  necessary ;  but  place  her 


88 


KEEPIKG  OKE  COW. 


i': 


ort  rations  for  a  few  days-administering,  as  one  writer 

It,  "judicious  starvation."    The  feed  of  rn,L-  • 

y  exert  a  laxative  o.iTorf  ..  IuUTI^^ '''?^'  '«  commued, 


on  short 
lornis  ]( 

But  cases  wbere'assisl  ce  t'im  sp  "saWe"!  .7  T  '""""" 

abhormal  positions  m  wluch  thl  ollf  ™5    ^  "  "''''  ''™™' 

«.cre  are  but  two  positionst  T^.T^Zr^":';,:''!: 
the  natural  position  the  two  fore  feet  and  nlo  .f  " 

pains  have  continued  for  some  time  th^r^.l  '         "  '^^°' 

ana  noL'o.  .i':tL  ^^rjxr.\^  °r  :,r^  ii!-!  ■!!! 


t 

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1 
1 

t 

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8 


KEEHKO  ONE  COW. 


80 


toU«t  endeavor  to  brmg  up  the  hind  legs  and  deliver  it  in  that 
position  It  frequently  occurs  in  this  position,  as  well  as  some- 
times  in  the  natural  one,  that  traction  will  have  to  be  applied  In 
such  cases  It  should  be  applied  simultaneously  with  tlie  throes  of 
Ifthr;   .     '^Z  T-'  '*  ^''*""''  necessary  to  amputate  portions 

1  ou  d  be  loft'?  m""^  l""'""  "^'^^  ^^P^^^^^^^'  ^*"«^  «P«r«t''o« 
siould  be  left  to  the  veterinary  surgeon.  In  fact,  whenever  as- 
sistance IS  required,  it  is  better  to  employ  tlie  services  of  a  compe- 
tent surgeon.  If  such  can  be  obtained.  But  where  professional 
assistance  cannot  be  obtained,  it  is  much  better  to  use  one's  own 
judgment  than  to  depend  on  the  village  cow  doctor,  who  is  usually 
one  of  the  most  ignorant  persons  in  the  community.  Happily 
cases  requiring  any  assistance,  where  a  single  cow  is  kept,  are  rare 

For  Mamm  or  garget  I  have  given  successfully  the  following 
powder  twice  daily  :  Pulverized  Digitalis,  one  drahm  ;  Nitre  one 
ounce;  Cream  of  Tartar,  one-half  ounce;  mix  and  give  in  the  feed 
If  the  bag  ,3  caked  and  hard,  let  the  calf  run  with  the  cow  for  a 
few  days. 

I  do  not  consider  it  profitable  to  raise  the  calf,  therefore  I  dis- 
pose  of  It  as  soon  as  possible.    I'here  are  always  plenty  of  farm- 

r^tlw'v^^^'^T  '''.'^'  ^^""^^  ^«^-  *^«  «^°^«.and  take  It 
right  away.    I  prefer  to  raise  and  fatten  a  pig  instead. 

ACCIDENTS  AND  FAILiJRES. 

I*  ll  °of  «re  than  fair  for  me  to  say  concerning  my  plan  of  feed- 
ing, that  I  have  occasionally  been  obliged  to  modify  some  of  the 
details  on  account  of  unfavorable  circumstances.  For  instance  I 
have  been  forced  to  cut  grass  from  the  highway  in  front  of  mv 
house,  to  supply  a  deficiency  in  some  crop,  caused  by  unfavo  able 
weather,  or  some  accident  or  other.  In  the  spring  of  1878  my 
clover  failed  to  catch,  leaving  me  to  make  up  for  the  loss  of  t^a^ 
crop  as  well  as  I  could.  It  was  certainly  most  unfortunate  inas 
much  as  It  seriously  interfered  with  the  whole  system  of  rotation 

uin  ,T  '''"  ?'"^  ^^  '"'"'^^^  iuccessfully  requires  considerable 
time  and  labol^    And  on  the  whole,  unless  one  has  plenty  of  the 

kttr'l^  .n',fr?',r^  '  good  wholesome  inclination  for  the 

atter,  1^  could  do  full  as  well  to  adopt  the  old  time  practice  of 

having  his  cow  pastured  by  the  week,  in  which  case  no  other  labor 

than  milking  would  be  required,  while,  if  she  were  allowed  a  feed 

"""-"  ^^^  tiincui  imlKing,  uigut  and  morning,  very 


ii  ... 


.•il 


III 


satisfactory  results  would  be  obtained. 


90 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


ONE  year's  results. 


To  show  what  I  have  accomplished  by  it,  I  will  give  an  ac- 
count of  the  products  of  my  cow  "  Polly,"  for  the  year  ending 
April  first,  1880,  together  with  a  statement  of  the  actual  expenses 
of  her  keeping.  Besides  what  was  used  in  a  family  of  four, 
I  have  sold  one  hundred  and  sixty-nine  pounds  of  butter,  at  an 
average  of  twenty  cents  per  pound,  which  amounts  to  thirty-three 
dollars  and  eighty  cents ;  eight  hundred  and  twenty-eight  quarts 
of  milk,  at  six  cents  per  quart,  forty-nine  dollars  and  sixty-eight 
cents;  eighteen  quarts  of  butter-milk,  at  three  cents  per  quart, 
fifty-four  cents;  eleven  quarts  of  sour  milk,  at  two  cents,  twenty- 
two  cents;  one  calf,  four  days  old,  one  dollar  and  seventy  five 
cents;  total,  eighty-five  dollars  and  ninety-nine  cents.  To  this 
I  may  add  one  hundred  and  twenty  pounds  of  butter  consumed 
at  home,  twenty-four  dollars,  and  about  two  hundred  and  thuty 
quarts  of  milk,  worth  thirteen  dollars  and  eighty  cents ;  making  in 
all,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  dollars  and  seventy-nine  cents. 
The  cost  of  feed  was  as  follows :  One  thousand  pounds  bran,  nine 
dollars  and  sixty  cents ;  one  thousand  pounds  corn  meal,  eleven 
dollars  and  fifty  cents ;  seven  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  oat- 
meal, nme  dollars  and  eighty  five  cents ;  three  thousand  pounds 
clover  hay,  thirteen  dollars  and  fifty-cents;  two  hundred  pounds 
rye  straw,  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents;  muck,  two  dollars;  total, 
forty-seven  dollars  and  ninety-five  cents;  leavmg  a  balance  of 
seventy-five  dollars  and  eighty-four  cents.  As  I  keep  a  horse,  I 
have  the  necessary  tools  for  cultivating  the  land  myself,  I  have 
not  added  the  cost  of  cultivation  as  an  item  in  the  expense  col- 
umn, and  perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  I  should  also  have  added 
interest  on  land  and  buildings.  As  an  ofl'set  to  these,  I  would  call 
attention  to  the  valuable  pile  of  manure,  and  furthermore  I  have 
made  no  account  of  a  large  amount  of  skim-milk,  on  which  I 
laised  a  pig.  This  pig  was  fed  nothing  but  sour  milk,  and  a 
very  few  small  potatoes,  until  about  four  weeks  prior  to  butcher- 
ing, when  he  was  "  finished  oft' "  on  corn  meal.  He  weighed,  after 
being  dressed,  December  twenty-eighth,  two  hundred  and  seventy- 
eight  pounds.  The  profits  from  this  cow  would  undoubtedly  have 
been  larger  had  I  sold  all  the  milk,  instead  of  making  butter  out 
of  a  part  of  it,  but  I  did  not  make  mere  profit  my  sole  object  m 
the  matter.  I  wished  to  supply  my  family  with  those  necessary 
luxuries  which,  I  believe,  are  rendered  even  sweeter  by  the  con- 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


dl 


pleasure  which  I  have  t'lken  in  caring  for  my  pet  cow,  and  in  pro- 
vioing  for  lior  wants,  and  the  pride  I  feel  in  exhibiting  both  my 
cow  and  t!ie  delicious  rich  milk  and  yellow  butter,  with  which  she 
so  bountifully  supplies  us,  amply  repays  me  for  my  part  of  the 
labor.  I  luive  made  no  account  of  using  concentrated  food,  such 
as  oil-cake  and  cottonseed  meal,  for  the  reason  that  I  have  had 
very  little  experience  hi  the  use  of  them.  Whenever  an  animal 
has  become  thin  and  poor,  these  articles  of  food  may  be  used  to 
advantaife  to  increase  tlje  flesh  and  bring  the  animal  into  good 
condition.  But  I  never  let  my  cow  get  poor,  and  I  find  that  good 
hay,  with  corn,  oats,  and  bran,  answers  every  purpose,  and  is  fully 
adequate  to  all  her  requirements.  My  system  of  rotation  is  as 
follows  :  The  one-eighth  acre  of  clover  sod  of  the  preceding  year 
is  well  manured  either  during  the  winter  or  in  the  spring,  and 
well  fitted  up  and  sown  to  beets  or  mangels.  This  crop  occupies 
tne  land  during  the  whole  season.  The  same  plot  is  again  plowed 
the  next  spring  for  sowed  corn.  After  this  crop  is  off  it  is  again 
manured  and  sown  to  rye,  and  the  following  spring  is  again  seeded 
to  clover.  It  is  kept  in  clover  one  year,  yielding  two  crops  during 
inc  season,  after  wliicli  it  is  treated  as  before.  Eacli  of  the  four 
plots  undergoes  the  same  treatment;  thus  a  complete  rotation  is 
established. 


KEEl»llfa  ONE  COW* 


KEEPING  A  COW  ON  CAPE  COD. 

BY  M.   T.   T.   NICKEBSON,  SOUTH  DENNIS,  MASS. 

We  live  in  a  section  of  country  where  nature  has  not  been  lavish 
with  her  gifts.  Our  soil  is  sandy  and  only  produces  paying  crops 
by  high  cultivation.  Farming  with  us  comes  near  to  being  one 
of  the  lost  arts.  We  are  not  tillers  of  the  soil.  Living,  m  we  do, 
within  sound  of  the  Atlantic  surf,  as  it  beats  its  everlasting  meas- 
ure upon  our  coast,  wo,  from  associations  of  birth  and  early  train- 
ing, plow  the  Ocean  for  a  living,  the  furrows  frequently  stretching 
from  pole  to  pt)le,  or  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  globe.  Few,  very 
few,  keep  cows.  A  large  proportion  of  our  people  do  not  keep 
any,  and  it  is  not  common  to  find  many  that  have  more  than  one. 

We  keep  a  good  grade  Jersey,  and  will  give  our  way  of  keeping 
one  cow,  having  learned  long  ago,  that  stock  of  any  kind  paid 
for  good  care.  Keeping  a  lot  of  cattle  or  hogs,  or  poultry,  and 
simply  feeding  wliat  we  happen  to  have,  or  what  we  can  buy 
cheap,  leaving  them  to  shift  for  themselves  m  cold  and  stormy 
weather,  or  giving  them  wet  uncomfortable  stables,  always  results 
m  disease  to  the  stock  and  loss  to  the  owner. 

We  sow  as  early  in  the  spring  as  the  ground  is  in  condition  to 
work,  forty  rods  with  a  mixture  of  oats  and  peas,  and  forty  rods 
in  spring  rye.  We  commence  cutting  our  oats  and  pea'  as  soon 
as  the  peas  begin  to  bloom.  Where  we  have  a  good  stand,  a  rod 
per  day,  divided  in  three  feeds,  morning,  noon,  and  night,  is  gen- 
erally enough.  As  soon  as  we  have  cut  about  ten  rods  we  plow 
under  the  stubble,  and  plant  Early  Minnesota  Sweet  Corn— rows 
two  and  one  half  feet  apart— hills  two  feet  in  the  rows,  leaving  two 
and  three  stalks  in  a  hill.  The  next  ten  rods  we  serve  in  the  same 
manner.  If  our  rye  is  now  grown  enough  to  cut  with  profit  we 
commence  feeding  it,  and  cut  the  balance  of  our  oats  and  peas, 
and  cure  them  for  winter. 

If  our  rye  is  not  fit  to  cut  for  soiling,  we  continue  to  use  our 
oats  and  peas  until  it  is,  and  then  cure  for  winter  what  is  left.  As 
soon  as  the  last  of  our  oats  are  off,  we  plant  about  four  rods  with 
beets  (mangel  wurzel).  We  prefer  the  Globe  varieties,  as  the 
yield  is  better  on  our  soil.  The  balance  of  our  oa^and-pea  ground 
we  sovv  with  Hungarian  grass. 

As  soon  as  we  have  cut  ten  rods  of  our  rye,  we  manage  as  with 
our  oats,  turn  under  the  stubble  and  again  plant  sweet  com.  The 
earlier  the  variety  the  better.   We  prefer  the  Early  Minnesota.   As 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


93 


won  as  we  have  cleared  off  the  next  ten  rods  of  our  rye,  we  plant 
from  two  to  four  rods  with  turnips.    The  balance  ^^■^'  sow  with  a 
mixture  o.  llun^    ian  and  the  earliest  "  Canada  Gru^   "  ptm     We 
now  feed  our  rye  until  our  rtrst  planting  of  corn  and  Ilunsarian 
will  do  to  feed      her         turn  under  the  rest  of   tlie  rye  suibble 
(curing  what  Is     ft  of  the  rye  for  winter),  sow  half  wiih  Hunga- 
nan  and  the  bahiuce  ;vc  sow  (not  plant)  with  sweet  corn.    As  soon 
as  our  first  planting  of  corn  is  cut  up,  we  sow  two  or  three  rows 
broi!      ist  with  flat  turnips,  some  of  the  strap-leaved  varieties 
hoemg  or  raking  them  in  by  hand.     We  continue  to  plant  or  sow 
some  quick-growing  variety  of  corn,  peas,  grass,  grain,  or  roofs 
even  when  it  is  very  doubtful  if  we  shall  receive  any  return  for  our 
time  and  work;  but  we  frequently  get  a  fair  yield  from  our  tliird 
planting.    I  prcs      e  a  great  many  will  be  sceptical  in  re^-ard  to 
this    third  crop        mess."    It  must  be  remembered  that  our  first 
sowing  IS  made  very  early  in  the  si    i.ig,  and  tliat  we  do  not  wait 
until  any  of  our  forage  crops  m  ture,  but  we  cut  them  long  before 
they  would  be  ripe,  thereby  shortening  the  time  of  th       growth 
and  leaving  the  ground  to  be  planted  with  something  eise. 

The  above  is  no  iron  rule,  but  subject  to  great  variations.  Our 
plan  is  to  sow  as  early  as  possible  in  the  spring  with  the  eariiest 
maturing  grass  or  grain  we  can  get,  and  from  the  time  we  com- 
mence cutting  until  there  is  no  possibility  of  getting  any  return. 
We  sow  and  plant  wherever  we  have  a  few  rods  of  bare  ground,' 
as  soon  as  any  of  our  crops  are  maturing  or  there  is  something 
coming  forward  to  take  its  place.  We  cut  and  cure  what  is  left 
for  winter.  We  advise  close  seeding  in  all  cases,  roots,  of  course 
excepted.  * 

COW    KEPT    ON    HALF    AN    ACRE. 

If  the  season  is  favorable,  we  manage  to  keep  our  one  cow 
nicely  on  half  an  acre,  or  rather  on  the  fodder  grown  on  half  an 
acre.  But  sometimes,  on  account  of  drouth  or  late  frost,  we  are 
obliged  to  buy  a  little  hay  in  the  spring. 

It  is  impossible  for  us  to  say  how  much  feed  must  be  bought. 
We  generally  have  a  bag  of  corn  (two  bushels),  and  a  bag  of  oats 
(two  and  a  half  bushels),  ground  together,  feeding  from  two  to 
four  quarts  a  day,  according  to  the  amount  of  roots  used,  and  the 
season  of  the  year,  feeding  meal  very  sparins^ly  in  summer.  We 
frequently  reserve  two  or  three  rods  in  the^  spring  for  cxrly  tur- 
nips, to  be  fed  when  large  enough  for  profit,  but  alwavs  feed  tur- 
nips  imniediateiy  after  milking  to  prevent  flavoring  the  milk.    W? 


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Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

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KEEPIl^G   ONE  COW. 


generally  have  a  few  cabbage  plants  started  to  set  where  the  corn 
misses,  or  the  beets  or  turnips  fail  to  come  up,  or  in  any  corner  or 
by-place  where  there  is  room  for  a  cabbage  to  grow.  Sometimes 
we  reserve  a  few  rods  fo  bbages  late  in  the  season,  as  we  find 
them  excellent  for  a  change  of  feed  either  winter  or  summer.  We 
advise,  in  all  cases,  the  use  of  the  earliest  varieties  of  grass,  grain, 
or  vegetables,  as  we  cannot  afford  the  time  and  ground  occupied 
by  some  of  the  larger  and  taller  growing  varieties,  being  convinced, 
from  actual  experience,  that  two  and  three  crops  of  early  varieties, 
although  small,  are  more  profitable  than  one  crop  of  the  larger 
late  varieties. 

THE    STABLE    AND    THE    MANUKE    CELLAR 

The  stable  for  our  cow  is  a  shed  nine  by  sixteen,  built  on  the 
south  side  of  our  carriage  and  wagon  house.  One-half  of  the  shed 
is  partitioned  off  and  enclosed  for  winter  use  or  stormy  weather ; 
the  other  half  of  the  shed  is  opon  on  the  south  side,  and  our  yard 
is  about  sixteen  by  thirty,  including  the  shed.  We  think  it  would 
be  better  to  have  it  larger,  but  we  get  along  with  it  nicely.  We 
find  the  best  way  to  dispose  of  her  manure  is  to  have  a  small  cel- 
lar underneath  the  stable,  with  cemented  bottom  and  sides,  so  as 
to  be  water  tight,  the  stable  to  have  a  tight  floor  with  a  gutter 
behind  the  cow  to  receive  the  droppings  and  urine,  with  a  scut- 
tle or  trap  door  in  the  gutter  to  let  it  all  go  into  the  cellar.  For 
bedding,  we  use  forest  leaves,  and  use  them  liberally.  Where  for- 
est leaves  cannot  be  obtained,  any  refuse  hay  or  straw  will  ans- 
wer, but  the  cow  as  well  as  the  horse  should  have  plenty  of  good 
dry  bedding.  To  mix  with  the  urine  and  droppings  of  the  cow, 
we  put  into  the  cellar,  sea- weed,  muck,  turf,  slops  from  the  house, 
and  soap  suds,  or  anything  we  think  will  make  good  compost.  We 
gather  up  the  droppings  from  the  yard  and  throw  them  into  the 
cellar.  We  keep  our  yard  well  laid  with  forest  leaves.  If  those 
are  not  available,  we  use  the  next  best  thing  we  can  get.  In  the 
fall,  when  we  cart  the  manure  out  of  the  cellar,  we  gather  up  what 
has  accumulated  in  the  yard  and  put  it  into  the  cellar.  In  this 
way  we  save  all  of  the  manure,  and  in  excellent  condition.  Now, 
to  make  it  better  and  save  the  labor  of  pitching  it  over,  we  keep  a 
pig  where  he  can  have  access  to  the  cellar,  and  if  not  disposed  to 
work,  we  keep  him  on  short  feed  and  scatter  corn  in  the  cellar,  so 
that  in  order  to  get  it,  he  will  have  to  root  the  whole  mass  over  in 
good  shape. 

We  cart  our  manure  put  In  the  fall,  distributmg  it  over  our  land 


KEEPING  OTHE  COW. 


95 


as  evenly  as  possible,  and  plow  it  under  as  deep  as  we  can.  We 
do  not  sow  anything  for  next  year's  use,  as  we  think  we  get  a  bet- 
ter return  from  our  land  to  sow  early  in  the  spring  and  continue 
it  through  the  summer.  It  is  a  mistaken  idea,  or  rather  a  grave 
blunder,  to  undertake  to  grow  good  crops  of  anything  without  the 
liberal  use  of  manures.  As  soon  as  our  land  will  do  to  work  in 
the  spring,  we  sow  our  oats,  peas,  and  rye,  giving  a  top  dressing  of 
guano,  superphosphates,  or  bone  meal,  which  we  repeat  with  each 
successive  sowing,  also  giving  each  hill  of  com  and  rows  of  beets 
and  turnips  a  small  quantity.  We  alternate  the  top  dressings, 
that  is,  if  we  use  superphosphate  the  first  sowing,  we  use  ground 
bone  or  guano  the  second,  and  vice  versa,  as  we  find  the  continu- 
ous use  of  any  one  kind  of  manure  or  fertilizer  is  as  injurious  as 
continuous  planting  of  corn  or  potatoes,  without  rotating  with 
something  else. 

BARRELS    FOR    KEEPING    ROOTS. 

We  have  a  way  of  our  own  for  keeping  our  roots  in  the  ab- 
sence of  a  vegetable  cellar,  or  when  we  do  not  want  them  in  the 
house  cellar.  We  take  any  old  barrels  and  set  them  in  the  ground, 
the  chiner  just  coming  to  the  top  of  the  ground  (we  do  not 
want  a  head  in  either  end  cf  the  barrels).  Into  these  headless  bar- 
rets we  put  our  beets,  turnips,  cabbage,  etc.  As  the  weather  grows 
cold  we  cover  the  barrels  with  some  loose  boards.  Whenever  it 
is  cold  enough  to  freeze  hard,  we  throw  over  them  enough  hay  or 
straw  to  keep  out  the  wet.  By  this  method  we  can,  with  very  lit- 
tle trouble  at  any  time,  get  out  a  barrel  or  part  of  a  barrel 
of  roots.  In  this  way  the  roots  keep  in  fine  condition.  Late 
in  the  spring,  turnips  and  beets  will  be  as  brittle  and  good  as 
when  pulled  in  the  fall.  Our  subject  is  *'  keeping  one  cow,"  but 
any  one  that  feels  disposed  to  try  it,  will  find  the  above  a  very 
line  way  to  keep  turnips,  beets,  cabbage,  or  celery,  for  family  use. 

We  prefer  to  have  our  cow  calve  about  the  first  of  April,  as  we 
then  have  time  to  make  veal  of  the  calf  before  we  begin  to  make 
grass  butter.  There  is  generally,  in  any  place,  a  better  demand 
for  milk  through  the  winter,  and  better  prices,  hence  if  one  wishes 
to  sell  milk  and  buy  butter,  it  would  perhaps  be  better  to  have  her 
calve  in  the  fall. 

We  hardly  feel  competent  to  advise,  if  help  is  needed  in  calving. 
As  her  time  of  calving  draws  nigh,  we  give  our  cow  extra  care  and 
attention.  If  the  bowels  are  kept  in  a  healthy  condition,  we  ap- 
prehend there  is  rarely  trouble,  from  the  fact  that  our  cows  have 
always  calved  without  the  need  of  help. 


■  i 


^ll 


ill: 


96 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


If  there  is  ready  sale  for  milk  atp.iying  prices,  we  would  dispose 
of  the  calf  in  some  way,  when  it  is  a  few  days  old,  but  if  milk  is 
not  ^  lable  at  good  prices,  it  is  better  to  let  the  calf  have  the  milk 
until  from  four  to  six  weeks  old,  and  then  if  the  butcher  will  not 
give  us  a  fair  price  for  it,  we  get  some  one  to  dress  it  for  us,  and 
sell  it  among  our  neighbors,  who  are  generally  glad  to  buy  it.  In 
that  way  we  get  from  eight  to  twelve  dollars  for  our  calf.  We 
think  it  as  well  for  the  cow  to  keep  the  calf  for  that  length  of 
time.  It  seems  to  satisfy  a  necessity  of  her  nature  to  have  her 
baby  suck  and  draw  its  nourishment  from  her.  We  know  of  no 
bettar  picture  of  contentment  than  to  see  an  old  cow  suckling  her 
calf  after  being  away  from  it  all  day. 

We  advise  regular  hou:-s  of  milking  night  and  morning,  and 
kind,  gentle  treatment,  carding  in  winter,  cleanliness  and  thorough 
ventilation  of  stable  at  all  times.  In  summer  time,  if  confined  in  a 
yard,  a  thin  sheet  to  keep  off  the  flies  will  be  found  very  comforta- 
ble for  the  cow,  and  prQfitable  to  the  owner.  I  presume  some  will 
ridicule  the  idea  of  blanketing  the  cow,  but  why  not  as  well  as 
the  horse  ?  Again,  if  cotifined  in  a  yard,  she  should  have  plenty 
of  clean  pure  water,  and  plenty  of  shade.  Keeping  a  cow,  with 
us,  is  not  altogether  a  matter  of  f«ncy  or  pleasure,  but  of  conveni- 
ence, economy,  comfort,  profit,  and  health,  in  having  pure  sweet 
milk  and  fresh  butter. 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


97 


ALFALFA    OR  LUCERN^. 

BY  SAM'L  C.   hammer,  DOWNEY  CITY,  OAL. 

I  have  lived  in  Tennessee,  in  Texas,  and  now  reside  in  Califor- 
nia. I  have  been  using  Alfalfa  for  some  eight  or  ten  years,  and 
from  my  own  pcisonal  care  of  and  attention  to  this  article,  I 
maintain  one  can  obtain  more  milk  the  year  round  from  it,  with- 
out change  to  other  food,  than  from  any  one  thing  grown.  Be- 
sides, Alfalfa  can  be  grown  at  less  expense,  and  is  attended  with 
less  labor,  whether  fed  green  or  cured,  than  any  other  feed. 

Alfalfa  can  be  grown  in  Canada,  it  is  sairl.    If  so,  then  any  one 
has  the  chance  to  try  this  wonderful  friend  to  the  farmer.    Once 
sown  on  deeply  cultivated  land,  free  of  weeds,  it  is  good  for  teji 
years,  or  even  more,  with  us.  Twenty  pounds  is  abundant  seed  for 
an  acre— some  think  too  much ;  but  it  should  be  sown  ihickly.    Let 
it  stand  thick,  and  it  is  finer  and  more  tender.     Where   sown 
sparsely  it  becomes  woody  and  coarse.     It  can  be  cut  here  as  early 
as  March,  where  mowing  and  not  grazing  'r  adhered  to,  and  it 
should  never  be  grazed  or  ''  staked  "  (fed  oif  by  tethered  cattle). 
From  seven  to  nine  cuttings  can  be  obtained  from  it,  and  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  tons  of  cured  hay  a  year  made  to  the  acre ;  that 
is,  if  on  uood  land  and  if  the  crop  fully  occupies  the  ground,  and 
is  cut  just  as  a  few  scattering  blooms  are  observed.    This  hay 
must  be  cured  as  rapidly  as  possible,  raked  in  windrows  and 
bunched  the  second  day,  rather  letting  it  cure  in  bunches  than 
in  any  other  manner,  to  prevent  leaves  falling  off ;  then  housing 
or  "shedding"  it  soon  as  possible,  sprinkling  salt  through  it  as 
stacked,  to  prevent  mould. 

Alfalfa  needs  no  top-dressing  with  fertilizers  and  manure,  but 
simply  a  severe  cross-harrowing  with  a  very  sharp-toothed  har- 
row, bearing  the  weight  of  a  man.  The  more  the  Alfalfa  is  torn 
and  split  up  the  better  it  will  grow.  This  harrowing  should  be 
done  in  spring  before  it  commences  its  first  growth.  After  grow- 
ing a  few  years,  the  stools  project,  in  many  places,  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  ground.  If  an  implement  could  be  devised  for  the 
purpose  of  cutting  off  all  these  old  stalks  just  below  the  surface, 
then  seed  lightly,  giving  a  £:ood  harrowing,  the  plants  would  be 
renewed,  and  would  thicken  up  rapidly,  for  wherever  a  stalk  or 
root  is  cut  off,  dozens  of  new  shoots  spring  up  in  its  place. 

However,  I  advocate  a  change  of  diet  for  brutes  as  well  as  man- 
kind, and  therefore  take  for  the  family  cow  a  half  acre  of  most 
excellent  ground,    I  will  suppose  that  one  half  of  it— that  is  a 
5 


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98 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


!|||  : 


quarter  acre— is  well  set  in  AlfaKa.  The  rest  I  would  have 
plowed  twice,  very  deep,  smoothed  and  laid  oflf  in  drills  for  car- 
rots, which,  at  the  proper  season  (with  us  in  February  or  March),  I 
would  enrich  in  the  furrows  with  any  well-rotted  manure.  For 
Alfalfa  almost  any  good  soil  suits,  for  I  find  it  adapts  itself  to 
various  soils  and  endures  a  great  deal  of  rough  treatment,  but  ui 
order  to  get  the  best  results  it  should  be  well  treated.  I  prefer  a 
moderately  sandy  soil,  which  is  naturally  moist  On  dry,  mellow 
ground,  it  will  send  down  a  tap-r^^ot  ten  feet.  I  have  drawn 
roots  out  of  very  sandy  soil  when  digging  post  holes  that  would 
measure  alx  feet.  They  seek  moisture  during  dry  weather,  and 
although  1  have  had  Alfalfa  die  down,  the  ground  being  parched 
and  cracked,  yet  when  the  fall  or  winter  rains  begin,  it  springs 
up  m  a  few  days. 

As  soon  as  the  Alfalfa  comes  in,  feed  it  alone,  salting  as  suits 
one's  own  idea.  When  the  first  scattering  blooms  appear  I  would 
cut  the  remainder — namely,  that  which  had  not  been  cut  each  day 
for  the  cow.  I  would  •  then  cure  it  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and 
put  it  under  cover,  sprinklmg  salt  over  it.  I  now  advocate  and 
practice  feedmg  the  cured  hay  in  preference  to  the  green.  By 
the  latter  you  obtain  a  greater  flow  of  milk,  but  with  the  former  I 
consider  the  milk  richer,  and  this  is  the  experience  of  dairymen 
with  whom  I  have  conversed. 

A  cow  learns  to  eat  the  cured  fodder  almost  as  readily  as  the 
green,  and  all  danger  of  bloat  is  obviated.  Some  may  think  be- 
cause I  am  in  California  that  irrigation  makes  some  difference,  but 
my  Alfalfa  grows  without  it.  I  cut  mine  six  times  last  summer, 
1879,  and  it  was  an  exceptionally  dry  and  hot  season.  Our  rains 
fall  mostly  m  winter,  and  that  has  to  do  us  until  the  next  winter. 

Now,  as  to  the  cow,  I  would  place  her  in  a  corral  or  lot,  we'll 
say,  of  one-fourth  to  half  an  acre  in  size,  giving  her  a  comfortable 
house  or  shed  for  winter,  m  which  I  think  she  should  be  fastened 
by  a  closed  door  in  cold  rainy  weather.  At  other  times  she 
should  be  allowed  the  run  of  the  lot,  having  access  to  good  fresh 
water  at  least  twice  a  day.  Shade  trees  for  summer's  hot  sun  are 
indispensable.  In  this  lot  or  corral  you  have  all  the  manure 
where  it  can  be  gathered  up  daily  or  weekly,  and  composted 
or  housed,  ready  to  be  spread  on  the  ground  for  future  crops. 
Some  would  say  a  cow  should  be  curried  every  mcrning.  They 
certainly  do  enjoy  it,  but  many  California  farmers  never  saw 
such  a  thing  done.  I  think  it  should  be  done  just  before  the  ani- 
mals begin  to  shed  their  old  coats ;  afterwards  1  see  little  use  of  it. 


KEEPING  ONE  CpW. 


09 


I 


PERMANENT  GRASS  AS  SOILING  CROP. 

BY  P.   8.   NORRIS,  ANGELICA,  N.   Y. 

The  keeping  of  one  cow  seems  to  be  generally  regarded  as  a 
matter  of  so  little  importance,  and  one  so  simple  in  its  nature, 
that  even  persons  of  low  intelligence  can  scarcely  fail  of  success. 
But  to  keep  a  cow  in  such  a  manner  as  to  receive  the  greatest  re- 
turn for  the  least  possible  expense  in  labor  and  money,  requires 
the  most  careful  study  of  the  nature  and  habits,  endurance,  needs, 
and  the  productive  capabilities  of  the  animal,  and  involves 
scientific  principles  which  are  deeper  and  broader  than  those 
generally  applied  to  the  keeping  of  stock  of  any  kind. 

If  the  average  quantity  of  milk  be  ten  quarts  per  day  durii  g 
the  year,  and  the  expense  twenty  c?nts  per  day,  the  milk  will  cost 
two  cents  per  quart,  and  if  the  milk  is  worth  three  cents  per 
quart,  there  is  a  net  profit  of  fifty  per  cent  upon  the  cost  of  keep- 
ing, or  ten  cents  per  day.  But  if  the  quantity  of  milk  be  eight 
quarts  per  day,  and  the  expense  twelve  cents,  the  milk  will  c'()st 
only  one  and  a  half  cents  per  quart,  or  twelve  cents  per  day.  Then 
three  cents  per  quart  for  the  milk  will  leave  an  actual  profit  of 
one  hundred  per  cent  upon  the  cost  of  keeping,  or  twelve  cents 
per  day. 

One  acre,  and  even  something  less,  put  in  good  condition,  well 
fertilized  and  properly  seeded,  will  be  ample  for  a  pasture,  and 
will  furnish  plenty  of  nutritious  feed,  upon  which,  with  proper 
care,  the  cow  will  yield  an  abundant  flow  of  rich  and  delicious 
milk ;  while  one-third  of  an  acre  of  similar  soil  will  produce  suffi- 
cient hay  for  the  winter.    The  pasture  should  be  divided  into  two 
parts,  the  cow  to  be  kept  a  few  days  in  each  alternately,  with 
plenty  of  pure  water  and  shade.    Where  land  is  high,  as  it  always 
is  in  towns  and  villages  of  any  size,  the  practice  of  "soiling,"  as  it  is 
usually  termed,  is  the  most  profitable  way  to  keep  a  cow.     For  this 
purpose,  a  small  yard,  some  twenty  to  thirty  feet  square,  perhaps, 
or  of  such  size  as  can  be  aff'orded,  may  be  provided,  containing 
an  open  shed— the  more  open  the  better  for  the  summer— only  so 
that  It  will  shelter  the  animal  from  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  the 
storms.    The  yard  and  shed  should  be  kept  as  clean  and  dry  as 
possible,  or  the  cow  will  become  ill.     Plenty  of  pure  water  is  in- 
dispensable at  all  times.    A  comfortable  place  for  the  cow  to  lie 
down  is  very  important.     Sawdust,  forest  leaves,  old  straw,  or  oth'  r 
convenient  and  cheap  litter  will  answer  for  bedding ;  or,  if  the 
ground  be  smooth,  clean  and  dry,  that  may  be  sufficient.    Tut 


c  i 

V 


'11 


100 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


III' 


If'" 
iii.i'i 


manure  Is  to  be  carefully  collected  and  placed  under  another  shed, 
or  other  convenient  place  under  shelter  provided  for  the  purpose! 
and,  to  prevent  bad  odors,  the  heap  sljould  receive,  once  in  two  or 
three  days,  a  light  covering  of  muck,  leaves,  sods,  weeds  dug  up 
in  tbe  garden  or  elsewhere,  or  fine  earth— almost  anything  that 
will  rot— and  thus  not  only  prevent  the  unpleasantness  and  un- 
healthfulness  of  such  odors,  and  the  loss  that  would  result  from 
their  escape,  but  add  largely  to  tlie  size  and  value  of  the  manure 
heap.     Now,  have  about  two-thirds  of  an  acre  of  land,  highly 
manured,  and,  with  the  exception  of  about  fourteen  square  rods, 
well  seeded  with  a  variety  of  nutritious  grasses.     This  quautity  of 
land,  if  properly  enriched  and  cultivated,  will  keep  a  cow  the 
year  round,  and  keep  her  well,  without  purchasing  any  feed.    A 
good  rack  or  other  arrangement  in  the  shade  is  necessary,  m  which 
to  feed,  so  that  nothing  sha:i  be  wasted.     Then,  quite  early  in  the 
season,  the  grass  upon  this  rich  soil  will  be  large  enough  to  be  cut 
and  fed  to  the  cow.    While,  the  ground  is  sufficiently  moist,  in  the 
fore  part  of  the  season,  the  grass  will  grow  very  rapidly,  and 
when  the  soil  becomes  a  little  too  dry,  about  half  a  bushel  of 
plaster,  or  twice  as  much  lime,  or  two  or  three  bushels  of  wood 
ashes,  scattered  upon  it,  will  usually  renew  the  vigor  and  fresh- 
ness of  the  crop,  which  may  be  repeated  with  benefit  two  or  three 
times  before  the  end  of  the  growing  season.    Another  excellent 
fertilizer,  which  may  be  applied  during  the  summer,  is  the  waste 
water  from  the  house,  such  as  soap  suds,  dish  water,  and  any 
other  slops  that  are  to  be  thrown  away.    These  should  all  be 
saved  and  scattered  upon  the  grass  from  pails,  if  no  better  method 
is  ordinarily  practicable,  and  it  will  pay  a  person  many  times  over 
for  the  trouble.    A  light  top-dressing  of  manure  from  the  cow- 
yard  or  shed  will  be  necessary  every  year,  or  everv  second  year 
certainly,  applied  in  the  fall,  or  early  in  the  spring.  " 

As  soon  as  the  grass  has  fairly  got  into  blossom,  it  should  be 
immediately  cut  and  well-cured  for  winter  use,  unless  it  may  be 
necessary  to  save  a  small  quantity  to  feed  until  that  portion  which 
was  first  cut  for  the  cow  shall  be  ready  to  cut  again.  Grass  should 
never  be  allowed  to  stand  until  the  seed  has  formed,  as  just  pre- 
vious to  that  time  it  is  more  nutritious  than  at  any  other  period 
Hay  cut  thus  early  will  make  much  more  and  better  milk,  and 
keep  a  cow  in  better  condition  than  that  which  is  cut  later.  A 
portion  of  the  grass  can  be  mown  a  second  time  for  hay,  and  still 
leave  enough  for  green  feed  until  foddering  time.  The  exact  pro- 
portion of  the  crop  to  be  made  into  hay  must,  of  course,  depend 


1" 

m 

'■I  ^ 


lii 


rr 


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4     •»■•   • 


I!  , 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


103 


npon  circumstances.  All  that  is  not  ik  (jded  for  summer  use 
should  be  cured  for  winter,  and  tlie  quantity  will,  generally,  bo 
sufficient,  if,  indeed,  there  is  not  an  overplus,  as  will  quite  likely 
occur  in  many  cases. 

BEST    KINDS    OF    GRASSES. 
It  is  Important  to  know  what  kinds  of  grasses  are  best  adapted 
to  the  production  ot  milk  and  butter,  for  both  summer  and  winter 
feeding;  and  upon  this  depends,  in  a  great  measure,  the  profits  to 
be  realized.    The  practice  of  seeding  with  a  single  kind  of  grass, 
or  even  with  a  mixture  of  clover  and  timothy,  is  not  a  good  one. 
Four  of  the  most  nutritious  and  productive  kinds  of  grass,  includ- 
ing timothy,  white  clover,  and  such  other  varieties  as  are  well 
adapted  to  the  particular  nature  and  condition  of  the  soil,  are  none 
too  many  to  be  sown  together,  for  pasture  or  meadow.     Five 
quarts  of  timothy,  three  of  white  clover,  six  of  orchard  grass,  and 
three  of  red-top  (if  the  ground  is  quite  moist),  or  other  grass  suited 
to  the  soil,  are  about  the  proper  quantities  and  proportions  for 
general  use,  on  an  acre  of  land.    Such  a  mixture,  upon  a  rich  soil, 
will  produce  fully  twice  as  much  feed  as  any  one  kind  upon  the 
same  soil.     White  clover  produces  a  greater  quantity  and  better 
quality  of  milk  and  butter  than  any  of  the  other  varieties  of  grass, 
and  the  quantity  of  feed  produced  by  such  a  mixture,  will  aston- 
ish any  person  not  acquainted  with  the  facts.    Besides  producing 
much  more  abundantly,  they  furnish  something  of  a  variety  of 
feed,  which  is  greatly  beneficial  in  the  manufacture  of  both  milk 
and  flesh.    "Weeds  injure  the  flavor  of  milk  and  butter,  and  should 
never  be  in  the  food  for  cows.    An  acre  of  rich  soil,  well  seeded 
with  a  good  selection  and  variety  of  perennial  grasses,  will  pro- 
duce six  tons  of  well-cured  hay  in  one  season ;  by  mowing  twice, 
and,  by  early  cutting,  this  can  be  done  without  difficulty.    In  my 
own  experience,  the  first  mowing  has  given  at  the  rate  of  full  four 
tons  per  acre,  and  the  second,  somewhat  injured  by  drouth,  two 
tons.    Some  writers  recommend  the  sowing  of  one  or  more  of  the 
rank  growing  annuals,  as  being  more  productive ;  but  a  careful 
consideration  of  the  subject,  accompanied  by  experiments,  discloses 
the  fact  that  the  extra  expense  of  preparing  the  ground  and  seed- 
ing annually,  overbalances  any  increased  quantity  of  feed  pro- 
duced, especially  when  the  coarser  and  less  nutritious  nature  of 
the  feed  is  taken  into  tlie  account.     There  is  nothing  suited  to  this 
climate  and  latitude,  that  will  answer  a  better  purpose  as  food  for 
stock,  than  such  perennials  as  timothy,  red-top,  orchard-grass, 
blue-grass,  the  clovers,  etc.,  when  sown  upon  a  rich  soil,  thick 


4  ;    ., 


104 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


enonKh  to  completely  cover  the  gn„.n(l  and  to  insure  fine  soft  har 
when  cut  at  the  pn.per  time  an<l  well  cured.    I  luve  "m  tted  r^i 

rlety  will  prochjcc  white  clover  equally  as  well  a  ul  in  „.!    V  I 

U-eir  place,  to  bo  mJ^.ZTnorZZtl"""''  ""  '""" 
MILKING    THREE    TIMES    A    DAY. 

tinw.«!!T  *^\**"**  ,"^  '"'"'"''''  '*^«  ^«^  should  be  milked  three 
times  a  day,  at  regular  interval8-ab(,ut  five  o'clock  in  the  mornir 

lortable,  wh  ch,  of  necessity,  diminishes  her  usefulness      WhPn 
cows  are  milked  but  twice  a  day  in  hot  weather  the  uddl  be 
comes  too  much  heated  and  feverish,  and  the  milk  is  in  a  simi  1; 
c«ndi  jon-the  cream  seems  to  be  melted,  thr  milk   o^n  be  ome 

The.^  difHculties,  almost  universally  attending  butter-mak  n^r; 
Ins  time  of  the  year,  are  mostly  overcome  by  the  pracUcTof  nfilk 

matter"  '""  '  ''^'  ""'  ""  ^"^^  ''^"'^  "^^^  ^^  '^-^  *"-  -all 

.n  J^',  v"^*?  '*^  .^'""^  '^  '""^  '^""'^  ^'  °»"^^'''  Will  depend  on  her 
capabihies  for  giving  milk  a  longer  or  shorter  time  Some  will 
give  mdk  the  year  round,  while  others  will  -go  dry  "  ihr^e  or  four 
months,  or  longer,  in  spite  of  all  efforts  to^eep^hem  in  m  k  a 
longer  penod.    But,  as  a  rule,  it  is  better  for  a  cow  toTo  drv 

stXth"?'  ^''''n'  ^'"'"'  "'"^  ''''  «^^'""^  "P  ^  ««le,  and  .fanning 
strength  for  another  season.  The  cow  will  be  more  vigorous  and 
the  flow  of  milk  more  abundant  afterward.  ^'go^ous,  and 


KEEPIN(J   ONE  COW. 


105 


THE  ELLSWORTH   OR   **BARRE"   SYSTEM  OP 

FEEDING. 

BT    D.    D.    SLADB,    CHESTNUT  DILL,    MASS. 

My  own  experience,  as  well  as  that  of  others,  lias  taught  me  that 
a  cow  properly  fed  twice  a  day,  will  give  more  milk,  and  be  in  l)et- 
ter  condition  than  when  when  fed  three  times,  or  more  frequently. 
This  plan,  which  is  known  as  the  "  Barre  "  system  of  feeding,  may 
bo  adopted  throughout  the  year,  although  it  has  been  chiefly  ap- 
plied to  the  winter  months,  in  the  region  where  it  has  been  most 
extensively  pursued. 

The  poorest  quality  of  fodder  is  given  first,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  each  meal,  and  before  this  is  entirely  consumed,  another 
foddering  of  a  better  quality  is  placed  before  the  cow,  and  finally 
a  third,  of  the  best  hay.  After  this  is  consumed,  roots,  grain, etc., 
may  be  given  immediately.  In  this  way,  the  animal  employs  on 
an  average  about  two  hours  at  a  meal — which  occurs  only  twice 
dunng  the  day,  with  an  interval  of  from  six  to  seven  hours  be- 
tween the  morning  and  evening.  Water,  always  slightly  warmed, 
in  cold  weather,  is  offered  at  once,  and  it  will  be  found  that  the 
cow  will  not  drink  so  freely  after  she  has  begun  to  chew  the  cud. 
No  food  should  be  given  between  the  meals,  which  should  be  at 
regular  hours,  and  served  with  punctuality.  So  long  as  she  chews 
her  cud,  which  in  the  well-fed  cow  is  aliout  six  hours,  we  can  rest 
assured  that  her  digestive  organs  have  work  enough  before  them, 
and  that  we  cannot  reasonably  call  upon  them  to  do  more. 

The  why  and  the  wherefore  of  this  system  of  feeding,  which 
we  heartily  advocate,  are  well  told  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Ellsworth, 
the  originator.  "  The  idea  that  a  cow  needs  only  two  meals  a  day 
during  the  winter  season,  as  long  as  she  is  kept  upon  hay  or  other 
dried  fodder,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  she  will  eat  much 
oftener,  when  obtaining  her  living  from  the  pasture,  may  appear 
to  the  casual  observer,  to  be  contradictory  to  itself ;  but  on  a  closer 
investigation  we  shall  notice  a  rational,  and  I  believe  satisfactory 
reason  for  it.  Of  all  the  elements  of  which  grass  is  composed,  by 
far  the  larger  part  is  water,  which  must  render  it  much  more  bulky 
than  an  equal  amount  of  hay,  and  for  this  reason,  more  is  required 
to  supply  the  wants  of  the  system.  During  the  season,  therefore, 
when  the  cow  must  live  by  her  own  exertions,  she  must  labor 
most  of  the  time  to  obtain  the  requisite  amount  of  nourishment, 
which  she  is  not  required  to  do  while  in  the  barn.    We  must  not 


'A. 


i 


m\ 


106 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


fr.rget,  also,  that  pastures  in  general  are  kept  down  so  close  during 
the  greater  part  of  the  summer,  that  only  by  continual  labor  can 
her  wants  be  satisfied." 

The  sume  rules  are  applicable  to  the  soiling  of  the  cow  during 
the  summer  months,  the  only  difference  being  that  green  food  is 
given  In  the  place  of  dry.  This  may  consipt  of  rye,  oats,  barley, 
millet,  or  Hungarian  grass,  corn,  English  grass,  etc.,  cut  while  in 
the  milk.  It  will  frequently  be  found  ihat  a  proportion  of  dried 
hay  will  also  at  times  be  highly  reliihed,  and  may  be  essential  to 
allay  any  excessive  looseness  of  the  bowels,  which  may  be  pro- 
duced by  the  succulent  food. 

During  tha  time  of  eating,  the  milking  and  other  necessary  work 
may  be  done  about  the  cow  house,  so  that  tinue  may  be  thus  econ- 
omized. 

As  to  the  requisite  amount  of  food,  it  may  be  taken  as  a  safe 
rule,  that  a  milch  cow  demands  in  food,  three  per  cent  of  her 
weight.  An  average  cow,  then,  will  require  from  eighteen  to 
twenty  pounds  of  hay,  in  addition  to  a  peck  or  two  of  roots  per 
day,  or  the  equivalent  of  this  amount  in  green  food  during  the 
summer  months. 

If  the  hay  is  good,  and  has  been  properly  cured,  or  if  rowen  can 
be  given,  then  there  will  be  little  or  no  demand  for  grain  in  any 
form.  If  otherwise,  from  one  to  two  quarts  of  Indian  meal,  with 
two  quarts  of  shorts  per  day,  should  be  fed  out,  if  we  are  to  ex- 
pect a  good  flow  of  milk.  W3  have  found  excellent  results  to  fol- 
low the  practice  of  stirring  the  meal  and  shorts,  or  a  portion  of 
these,  mto  a  bucket  of  warm  water,  and  offering  thio  mixture  im- 
mediately after  the  animal  has  consumed  her  dry  food,  and  before 
any  roots  are  eaten.  This  extra  amount  of  fluid  will  be  greedily 
taken,  in  this  way,  without  any  interference  with  a  liberal  supply 
of  water  at  the  end  of  the  meal.  Salt,  at  all  times,  should  be  ac- 
cessible to  the  cow,  and  perhaps  this  article  may  be  best  supplied 
by  placing  a  large  lump  of  rock  salt  in  the  manger,  to  be  licked  as 
her  wants  may  require. 

Taking  Central  New  England,  as  before  remarked,  as  the  lati- 
tude of  experimentation,  it  will  be  found  that  one  square  rod  of 
oats,  Hungarian  grass,  barley,  rye,  and  similar  grasses,  in  proper 
condition,  growing  on  land  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  is  amply 
sufficient  for  a  cow  for  one  day.  Or  in  other  words,  to  be  within 
perfectly  safe  bounds,  and  considering  the  chances  of  nartial  fail- 
ure, we  may  say,  that  under  the  conditions  above  mentioned,  forty 
square  rods,  or  one  quarter  of  an  acre,  will  produce  ample  food 
for  one  cow  for  thirty-five  days.     On  this  basis,  upon  one  acre 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


161 


can  be  grown  soiling  material  sufflcieut  to  keep  a  cow  through  the 
year,  allowing  also,  a  liberal  amount  of  roots.  How  is  this  to  be 
done? 

"We  may  assume  that  a  man  takes  possession  of  a  place  on  the 
first  of  April,  which  is  the  customary  time  in  New  England.  Let 
him  select  an  acre  of  the  land  most  suitable  to  the  purpose  in  view. 
Let  him  set  apart  forty  square  rods,  or  one  quarter  of  it,  for  sum- 
mer soiling,  twenty  square  rods  for  the  growth  of  roots,  and  the 
remaining  one  hundred  square  rods  for  crops,  to  be  properly  cured 
for  winter  use.  The  land  having  been  thoroughly  prepared,  that 
is,  in  high  tilth,  sow  as  early  in  April  as  possible,  on  ten  square 
rods,  oats,  or  spring  rye,  at  the  rate  of  four  bushels  to  the  acre. 
This  will  be  fit  to  cut,  for  summer  soiling,  in  the  first  week  of 
July. 

On  the  fifteenth  to  twentieth  of  April,  sow  the  next  ten  rods  in 
a  similar  manner.  This  will  be  ready  to  cut  about  the  fifteenth  of 
July.  On  the  first  of  May,  sow  oats  or  barley  on  the  next  ten 
rods,  which  will  be  fit  for  cropping  August  first. 

On  tbe  tenth  to  the  fifteenth  of  May  put  in  the  next  five  rods  in 
drills,  flat  corn  at  the  rate  of  three  bushels  to  the  acre,  and  a  week 
later  the  remaining  five  rods  are  to  be  treated  in  a  similar  manner. 
This  will  give  succulent  food  up  to  September. 

As  soon  as  the  first  ten  rods  of  laud,  which  were  cleared  of  oats 
by  the  tenth  of  July,  has  been  again  prepared  properly,  sow  Hun- 
garian grass  at  the  same  rate  as  before  stated.  Do  the  same  also 
with  the  next  lot,  cleared  of  oats  by  the  first  of  August,  putting  in 
barley,  however,  in  place  of  millet,  as  this  is  not  injured  by  the 
early  frosts.  Barley  may  also  be  sown  on  the  lot  which  was 
cropped  about  the  tenth  of  August,  or  if  this  grain  has  already 
occupied  the  land,  we  may  substitute  corn,  using  a  stimulating 
fertilizer  to  give  it  a  rapid  growth.  In  this  way,  we  shall  have  a 
succession  of  green  food  up  to  November,  augmented  also  by  the 
tops  of  the  roots  when  thinned  out  or  when  harvested.  The 
larger  varieties  of  the  sweet  corn  may  be  substituted  for  the  flat_ 
and  is  perhaps  better  relished,  although  not  affording  perhaps  so 
large  a  yield. 

The  twenty  square  rods  devoted  to  root  culture  must  receive 
attention  as  early  in  the  season  as  possible— certainly  by  the  first 
of  May.  The  ground  having  been  deeply  plowed  or  spaded,  and 
thoroughly  manured,  should  be  made  perfectly  level.  The  large 
pugar  beet  and  the  man,i,^old  wurzel  are  the  most  valuable  for  the 
milch  cow,  and  may  be  sown  at  the  rate  of  about  six  pounds  to 
the  acre.    During  iheir  growth,  careful  attention  should  be  given 


*■ 


108 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


to  them  by  keeping  them  free  from  weeds,  and  the  surface  of  the 
ground  loose  and  fresh.  A  good  yield  would  give  an  average  of 
about  six  hundred  and  fifty  bushels  to  the  acre,  which  will  be 
eighty  bushels  for  the  plot  of  twenty  square  rods,  and  allowing 
the  cow  one-third  of  a  bushel  per  day  for  the  eight  months  of  dry 
food.  The  roots  should  be  secured  from  frost  by  placing  them  in 
the  cellar  or  in  deep  pits  well  protected.  The  hundred  rods  which 
is  to  be  devoted  to  the  winter  feeding,  must  be  put  down  to  oats 
at  the  same  time,  and  exactly  in  the  same  manner  as  the  first  ten 
rods  for  summer  soiling.  Cut  these  when  in  their  most  succulent 
condition,  which  will  be  probably  from  the  fifth  to  the  tenth  of 
July.  Cure  them  well,  and  house  or  stack  them  in  a  suitable 
manner.  The  land  having  been  again  suitably  prepared,  the  pre- 
ceding crop  must  be  at  once  followed  by  Hungarian  grass,  a 
bushel  and  a  half  to  the  acre,  which  will  be  fit  for  cutting  as 
soon  as  the  head  is  formed,  which  will  l)e  in  about  six  weeks  from 
the  time  of  sowing.  Cure  it  as  far  as  possible  in  the  cock,  which 
will  render  it  more  nutritious. 

The  one  hundred  square  rods  being  again  cleared  and  put  in 
order  during  the  autumn,  sow  winter  rye  at  the  rate  of  three 
bushels  to  the  acre.  This  will  be  ready  to  cut  in  the  spring,  and 
will  afford  green  food  much  earlier  than  in  any  other  way  for 
soiling.  If  there  is  a  surplus  of  any  of  the  green  crops,  convert 
it  into  hay  for  winter  use. 

From  the  two  croppings  of  the  one  hundred  square  rods,  treated 
in  the  above  manner,  a  fair  yield  will  be  a  ton  and  a  quarter  of 
oats  cured  as  hay,  with  an  equal  amount  of  Hungarian  grass. 
Thus  we  have  two  and  one-half  tons  of  fodder,  which  will  be 
amply  sufficient  for  one  cow  through  the  eight  months  in 
which  she  is  not  receiving  the  green  crops,  allowing  her  the 
amount  of  hay  per  day  which  we  have  stated  as  necessary  in  con- 
junction with  the  roots  and  grain,  in  the  quantities  before  men- 
tioned. 

Of  course,  where  the  feeding  commences  in  April,  if  the  place 
be  taken  in  that  month,  food  must  be  bought  by  the  owner  to  last 
until  the  summer  soiling  in  July.  In  the  succeeding  year,  how- 
ever, the  crop  of  winter  rye  will  come  in  early,  to  be  used  in  con- 
junction with  the  dried  fodder  of  the  previous  summer. 

COW    STABLED    IN   THE  TOWN. 
Ag.ain,  there  are  cases  where  a  single  cow  may  he  kept  with 
profit  and  advantage,  and  that,  too,  in  perfect  health,  without  the 
agency  of  land,  in  the  immediate  suburbs  of  a  town  or  city,  or 


■i 


KEEPIKG   OKE  COW. 


109 


even  within  the  very  precincts  of  a  city.  It  is  requisite,  for  these 
conditions,  that  provision  should  be  made  to  allow  the  animal  to 
breathe  fresh  air,  and  to  enjoy  a  certain  amount  of  sunlight  daily. 
Without  these  none  should  be  kept.  Exercise  is  not  essential  to 
the  well-being  of  the  milch  cow  ;  she  is  an  animal  of  repose,  and 
if  she  is  offered  every  effort  to  ruminate,  will  be  perfectly  con- 
tented, and  will  do  her  duty.  Attention  to  the  best  possible  con- 
dition of  the  skin,  as  regards  cleanliness,  is  very  important  when 
so  closely  housed. 

The  food  which,  under  these  circumstances,  must  be  purchased, 
can  be  obtained  with  much  economy,  on  account  of  the  propin- 
quity to  the  places  of  sale  ;  and  although  we  do  not  advocate  the 
use  of  brewers'  grain,  or  of  any  other  cheap  articles  which  are  too 
often  substituted  for  the  natural  food  of  the  cow,  viz.,  grass, 
green  or  dry— a  small  quantity,  especially  when  supplemented  by 
the  vegetable  refuse  from  the  house  table,  may  be  advantageously 
employed  conjointly  with  good  hay. 

Finally,  it  may  be  said  that  no  animal  better  repays  care  and 
attention,  and  can  with  more  truth  be  called  the  poor  man's  friend, 
than  the  cow. 


I 


It  It 


1' 


110 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


' 


Hill 


FACTS    REFUTE    PREJUDICE. 

•  BY  D.   B.   CUAPMAN,   NEW  LONDON,  OT. 

When  I  was  a  boy  it  was  the  prevailing  opinion  in  the  section  of 
country  where  I  was  raised,  that  it  was  better  that  a  cow  should 
be  rather  thin  in  flesh  at  the  time  of  calving  than  otherwise. 
There  was  but  very  little  grain  fed  in  winter,  to  any  stock  in  that 
section,  except  to  working  oxen.  Cows  in  milk  were  fed  hay, 
while  dry  cows,  and  young  stock,  were  fed  on  straw  or  corn  stalks! 
The  result  was  that  at  the  time  of  calving,  cows  were  generally 
thin  enough  to  conform  to  the  popular  idea  of  a  proper  condition. 
Cows  giving  a  large  yield  of  milk  were  scarce  enough  in  those 
days,  and  it  was  very  seldom  that  you  would  meet  one  that  would 
yield  ten  quarts  of  milk  per  day  (beer  measure),  during  the  flush 
of  feed.  My  faith  in  the  theory,  that  a  cow  should  be  thin  in  flesh 
at  the  time  of  calving,  received  a  very  severe  shock,  very  soon 
after  I  became  the  owner  of  one,  and  experience  and  observation 
have  only  served  to  confirm  my  doubts  of  its  correctness. 

In  the  spring  of  1848, 1  purchased  my  first  cow.  I  came  across 
her  some  twenty  miles  from  home.  She  had  just  calved,  and  dis- 
played a  very  large  udder.  Her  owner  warranted  her  to  give 
twelve  quarts  of  milk  per  day,  and  to  be,  in  every  respect,  a  good 
family  cow.  The  cow  suited  my  fancy  in  every  particular,  save 
one,  she  was  too  fat.  But  having  nine  points  in  her  favor 
I  did  not  feel  disposed  to  forego  her  purchase  for  the  want  of  4,he 
tenth.  When  I  drove  her  home,  the  adverse  criticism  on  her  was 
immense,  solely  on  account  of  her  condition.  Said  an  old  farmer 
to  me  :  "  That  is  a  fancy  cow,  just  suited  for  some  rich  man,  who 
can  afford  to  indulge  his  fancy,  and  expend  for  her  keeping,  twice 
as  much  as  the  value  of  her  milk.  You  will  find  that  you  have 
got  to  keep  her  in  just  the  condition  that  she  is  now  in,  or  you 
will  get  no  milk.  If  you  do  not  keep  her  m  this  condition, 
you  will  find  she  will  shrink  in  milk,  before  she  shrinks  in  flesh' 
and  she  won't  give  half  as  much,  on  the  same  keeping,  as  she 
would  if  she  was  no  fatter  than  my  cows." 

I  must  own,  that  after  listening  to  this  and  that  criticism  in  the 
same  strain,  I  felt  a  little  sick  of  my  bargain,  and  would  have  wil- 
lingly sold  her  at  a  discount,  but  no  purchaser  appearing,  I  con- 
cluded to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  bargain.    . 

My  purchase  was  made  April  second.  Twelve  hundred  pounds 
of  hay  furnished  her  with  feed  until  the  ei<Thteenth  of  Ma",  I 
then  hired  a  pasture,  for  fifteen  dollars,  where°I  kept  her  until  NO' 
vember,  when  I  sold  her. 


KEEPING   ONE   CJ  .   .  m 

I  found  that,  although  the  cow  lost  flesh  under  my  keeping,  and 
a  good  deal  of  it  too,  slie  gave  quite  as  much  milk  as  she  was'  rec- 
ommended to  give,  and  at  the  time  she  was  sold,  her  account 
stood  as  follows,  no  account  having  been  made  of  the  milk  used  in 
the  family,  then  consisting  of  three  persons : 

«  Cr. 

By  sale  of  Milk,  at  6  cents  per  quart *74  20 

do.       Calf W 5  QQ 

do.       Cow,  November  1 .......*.....'  18  00 

To  purchase,  April  2d 13500 

5«-  Hay^ 1300 

do.  Service 0  50 

do         Pasture 15  00 

$63  50 

Net  Profit ^^Q 

I  was  so  well  pleased  with  this  result,  notwithstanding  the  unfa, 
vorable  circumstance  of  having  started  with  a  fat  cow,  that  the 
next  spring  I  repurchased  her  at  the  same  price  paid  the  spring  pre- 
vious. But  instead  of  a  fat  cow  then,  she  was  thin  enough  to 
afford  a  good  study  of  animal  anatomy.  She  had  had  no  other 
feed  than  com  stalks,  for  the  two  months  that  she  had  been  dry, 
and  was  as  much  thinner  than  when  I  sold  her ;  as  she  was  at  that 
time  thinner  than  when  I  first  bought  her.  In  fact,  she  had  been 
subjected  to  a  gradual  system  of  depletion  for  a  year. 

I  sold  her  on  the  first  of  October,  following,  when  her  account 
stood  as  follows,  no  account  having  been  made  of  the  milk  used  in 
the  family,  numbering  three  persons,  as  before : 

m  Dr. 

Togirchase ^35  00 

Service!;.;:;:;;:;:;:::;: ^^?x 

Meal '.■'.;:'.;*.:■.■.;:;;;:;:;:;;;:  ew 

Pasture,  the  same  as  the  previous  year ;  15  00 

^  $68  50 

Tj  Cr. 

By  sale  of  Milk,  at  6  cents  per  quart sl'^i  an 

do.      Calf,  two  weeks  old.  3  So 

do.      Cow,  October  1 ;..;..*;;;  12  00 

$66  30 

^'^•; ."$220 

This  difference  in  profit  was  occf  s- jnod  solely  by  the  difference 
of  the  yield  of  her  milk  in  tlie  two  i.ch..ona.     The  yield  for  the  sec- 

"--^"ii  «Tvi«j^tu  lull  luiLi;  quaris  per  aay  less  tiian  the  first, 

and,  at  the  same  time,  the  quality  of  the  milk  was  deteriorsited  in 
the  same  proportion  as  the  quantity. 


A I 


112 


KEEPIl^^Q   ONE   COW. 


1^  mi 


This  was  my  first  lesson,  acquired  by  experience.  At  the  same 
time,  I  learned  another  by  observation.  The  two  combined  added 
materially  to  my  stock  of  knowledge. 

A  neighbor  of  mine,  a  German,  in  the  month  of  January,  1849, 
purchased  a  heifer,  three  years  of  age  the  coming  spring.  She  had 
been  kept  poor  from  the  time  she  was  weaned.  At  two  years  of 
age  she  had  dropped  her  first  calf,  and  through  her  first  season 
of  milk  had  given  but  little  promise  as  a  milker.  She  had  just 
been  dried  when  he  purchased  her,  and  he,  without  any  previous 
knowledge  of  the  care  of  cows,  commenced  feeding  her  according 
to  his  instincts.  He  fed  her  six  quarts  of  meal  per  day,  in  addi- 
tion to  all  the  hay  she  would  eat.  This  system  of  feeding  con- 
tinued until  about  the  twenty-fifth  of  March,  when  she  calved. 
At  the  time  of  calving  she  was  in  better  condition  than  much  of 
the  beef  sold  in  our  markets. 

Abont  the  same  time  that  his  cow  calved  I  repurchased  mine. 
The  feed  of  the  two,  thereafter,  was  very  nearly  alike,  except  that 
his  cow  had  a  feed  of  six  quarts  of  meal  per  day,  while  mine 
had  only  two.  His  fat  cow  doubled  on  the  quantity  of  milk  that 
she  had  given  the  year  before,  when  she  came  in  poor,  while  my 
poor  cow,  with  extra  feed,  fell  short  more  than  a  third  of  her 
yield  of  the  year  before,  when  she  came  in,  in  good  condition. 

At  that  time  I  do  not  remember  to  have  ever  seen  a  work  on 
chemistry,  and  knew  nothing  of  its  application ;  but  the  know- 
ledge acquired,  led  to  the  formation  of  a  theory  in  my  mind,  on 
which  I  have  since  acted,  and  which,  I  believe,  has  a  scientific 
basis,  to  wit :  "  The  fat  laid  on  the  body  of  an  in-calf  cow,  is  a 
store  from  which  nature  draws  a  large  portion  of  the  material 
which  increases  and  enriches  the  subsequent  flow  of  milk — a  store 
from  which  she,  by  legitimate  processes,  produces  oleo-stearine  in 
the  shape  of  butter." 

Acting  upon  this  theory,  I  have  endeavored  to  apportion  to  my 
cows  a  uniform  daily  ration,  occasionally  varying  tlie  material, 
which,  although  it  may  not  sustain  the  cow  in  full  flesh  during 
the  greatest  flow  of  milk,  seems  to  renew  it  during  the  period 
of  the  lesser  flow,  and  render  them  in  good  condition  at  the  time 
of  calving.  This  system  of  uniform  feedmg,  to  my  mind,  pays 
better  than  it  does  to  feed  heavily  while  m  milk,  and  then  1  ghtly 
when  dry,  because  it  furnishes  a  large  resource  of  fat,  on  which  to 
draw  at  a  time  when  to  consume  sufficient  food  to  sustain  the  en- 
tire flow  of  milk  capable  of  being  produced,  might  imperil  health ; 
and  I  feel  quite  sure  that  a  certain  richness  is  thereby  imparted  to 


KEEPING   ONE  COW,  113 

the  milk,  that  no  amount  of  feeding  will  draw  from  a  poor  cow. 
In  the  autumn  of  1877  I  purchased  a  grade  heifer  reputed  to  be 
seven-eighths  Jersey  and  one-eighth  Ayrshire.  She  had  dropped 
her  first  calf  the  spring  previous,  when  only  two  years  old.  She 
was  then  represented  as  yielding  three  quarts  of  milk  per  day,  and 
due  to  calve  April  the  sixth.  To  account  for  the  small  yield  of 
milk,  her  owner  said  she  had  been  kept  on  poor  pasture  and  milked 
by  careless  boys,  who  had  not  been  particular  to  milk  her  clean. 

That  she  had  been  kept  on  poor  pasture  her  appearance  abun- 
dantly confirmed.  She  came  into  my  possession  during  the  root 
harvest,  in  November.  I  commenced  by  feeding  to  her  three 
bushels  of  rutabaga  tops,  or  of  beet  tops,  three  pounds  of  com 
meal,  together  with  all  the  dry  hay  she  would  eat  each  day. 

ONE  year's  expenses  AND  RETURNS. 

The  cost  of  keeping  the  cow  from  November  first,  1877  to 
June  first,  1878,  was  as  follows : 

150  pounds  of  Indian  Meal,  at  $1  40 «  9!  in 

380      '*        Ship  Stuff,  at  $1  35 *  ^  Jq 

140      "        Oil  Meal,  at  $1  30 ?  oo 

4140      "        Roots,  at  $8  00  per  ton .'  .V. ifi  ?« 

8392      "        Hay,  at  $20...... , ^^ 

Ipeck  Salt —  — .*.'.*.'.*.*.**.".'.'.'.'.'    o  ^ 

$69  78 

The  cost  from  June  first  to  November  first,  1878,  was  as  follows : 

1530  pounds  of  Hay,  at  $20 *1.'5  .SO 

225      "        Oil  meal,  at  $1  30  2^ 

470      "        Bran,at$135 ::;;:    |g 

Salt, 025 

Service 2  00 

$36  83 

Making  a  total  cost  of $86~60 

for  the  year,  counting  nothing  for  the  garden  truck  consumed 
during  the  summer  and  autumn.  This,  with  the  exception  of  the 
corn  stalks,  would  have  been  consigned  to  the  compost  heap,  had 
she  not  eaten  it,  so  that  its  only  value  to  me  was  its  value  for  com- 
post. But  allowing  that  for  the  purpose  of  feed  it  was  equal  m 
value  to  its  equivalent  in  hay,  and  that  my  winter  ration  of  hay  had 
been  continued  through  the  year,  her  total  cost  of  keeping  would 
have  been,  in  round  numbers,  one  hundred  and  four  dollars. 

In  the  roots  fed  to  her  during  the  winter,  were  included  the 
waste  and  parings  of  vegetables  used  in  a  family  of  ten  persons 


'4 


■'m 


m 


I 


114 


KEEPING   ONE   LOW. 


I    '• 


IN' 


which  was  sometimes  no  iDConsiderablc  item.  These  were  always 
thrown  into  the  feed  baslcet,  and  just  enough  fresh  roots  sliced  to 
make  the  required  weight.  After  the  roots  stored  in  the  cellar 
were  exhausted  no  account  was  made  of  this  item.  I  make  this 
statement  simply  to  show  that  every  item  of  feed  was  entered  at 
its  full  value,  into  the  cost  of  the  keeping. 

Now  for  the  other  side.  Although  the  cow  was  quite  thin  when 
I  bought  her,  yet  under  this  system  of  care  and  feeding,  she  was 
estimated  to  have  gained  two  hundred  pounds  in  weight  by  the 
time  she  calved,  on  the  fifteenth  of  April,  1878,  and  of  this  weight 
she  had  not  lost  more  than  seventy-five  pounds  at  the  end  of  the 
year,  November  first.  When  I  bought  her  she  was  represented  as 
yielding  three  quarts  of  milk  per  day.  Her  yield  of  milk  weighed 
on  the  first  day  exactly  five  and  three-quarter  pounds.  At  the 
end  of  three  weeks,  it  had  increased  to  eleven  pounds  per  day,  and 
continued  at  this  figure  with  scarcely  any  interruption  until  the 
first  of  February.  It  then  rapidly  fell  oft",  until  by  the  twenty-fifth 
of  that  month,  she  yielded  only  seven  pounds  per  day,  I  then 
commenced  milking  her  once  a  day,  and  the  milking  on  the  fourth 
day  after  weighed  only  four  and  a  half  pounds.  I  continued 
milking  her  until  the  fifteenth  of  March,  when  I  stopped,  the 
weight  of  the  last  milking  being  only  one  and  three-quarter  pounds. 
On  the  tenth  or  April  she  calved.  I  let  her  calf  suckle  her  until  it 
was  four  weeks  old,  when  it  was  sold  for  veal.  On  the  seventh  of 
May  her  yield  of  milk  was  twenty-two  pounds.  It  averaged  about 
that  figure  until  she  got  a  full  feed  o*'  pea  vines  in  June,  when  it 
ran  up  as  high  as  twenty-seven  pounds.  In  July  it  fell  off  some, 
and  continued  to  run  from  twenty  to  twenty-three  pounds  until 
the  middle  of  August.  It  then  gradually  diminished  to  the  first  of 
November,  at  which  time  she  was  yielding  thirteen  pounds  of 
milk  per  day.  I  find,  by  referring  to  my  diary,  that  her  total 
yield  of  milk  from  the  time  I  purchased  her  until  she  calved,  was 
one  thousand  and  sixty-seven  pounds,  equal  to  four  hundred  and 
eighty-four  quarts,  reckoning  thirty-four  ounces  to  the  quart. 
Milk  was  then  selling,  in  this  vicinity,  at  six  cents  per  quart,  mak- 
ing a  value  of  twenty-six  dollars  and  four  cents. 

From  the  time  she  calved  until  the  first  of  November,  her  total 
yield  of  milk  was  three  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
pounds,  equal  to  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven 
quarts,  at  five  cents,  eighty-eight  dollars  and  eighty-five  cents; 
sale  of  calf,  six  dollars  and  fifty-cents ;  making  a  net  profit  of 
seventeen  doUjirs    and  thirty-nine  cents,  'o  say  nothing  of  the 


KEEPIKG   ONE  COW. 


116 


growth  of  the  cow,  or  the  value  of  her  manure,  which  was  an  am- 
pie  compensation  for  the  care  of  keeping. 

Had  I  estimated  the  value  of  her  milk  at  the  retail  price  I 
Bhou  .1  add  one  cent  per  quart  for  summer,  and  two  cents  per 
quart  for  winter.  The  next  year  this  same  cow,  with  the  increase 
of  the  equivalent  of  one  and  a  half  pounds  of  meal  per  day  to 
allow  for  her  increased  growth,  and  a  slight  deviation  in  the  ma! 
ter  of  feed  during  the  summer,  whereby  she  obtained  more  greci 
food,  of  which  1  shall  speak  hereafter,  increased  her  profit  ahnost 
forty  per  cent. 

GARGET. 
Of  one  thing  I  am  very  careful,  and  that  is,  not  to  allow  the  in- 
flowing  milk,  previous  to  calving,  to  harden  in  the  udder,  and  in 
all  my  long  experience,  in  owning  cows,  I  have  never  had  a  case  of 
garget.    When  I  was  a  boy  about  twelve  years  of  age,  my  father 
purchased  a  very  large  milker  for  those  days.     I  noticed  that  the 
nght  hind  quarter  of  her  udder  was  much  smaller  than  tiie  other 
and  yielded  a  correspondingly  less  quantity  of  milk.    After  she 
had  been  dried  off,  and  the  time  approached  for  her  to  calve  I 
observed  that  this  same  quarter  of  her  udder  became  very  much 
more  distended  than  the  others.     Her  whole  udder  was  very  much 
distended,  but  this  quarter  excessively  so.     As  her  period  of  calv- 
mg  was  delayed,  and  her  udder  became  more  inflamed,  producing 
evidently,  great  pain  to  the.co^-,  I  asked  the  privilege  of  milk- 
mg  her,  and  was   denied.     At  the  same  time  I  was  Hven  to 
understand  that  it  was  the  worst  possible   thing  that  could  b- 
done  for  the  cow;  that  it  was  necessary  that  her  udder  should 
become  thus  distended,  in  order  to  give  it  the  capacity  to  contain 
the  flow  of  milk  after  calving;  that  should  she  be  milked  before 
calving,  the  yield  after  calving  would  be  very  much  lessened,  etc 
By  the    ime  she  calved,  her  udder  was  one  indurated  mass,  and 
that  particular  quarter  of  it  so  much  inflamed  that  she  could  not 
bear  to  have  the  calf  touch  it.    la  the  course  of  time,  however  bv 
copious  applications  of  cold  water,  and  various  liniments,  the  in- 
flammation was  reduced,  but  that  particular  section  of  the  udder 
which  had  been  sufficiently  distended  to  hold  her  whole  yield  was 
shrunken  to  its  old  dimensions,  and  was  no  larger  tlian  when  1 
first  saw  her     When  the  time  approached  for  her  to  drop  her  next 

CHIT     I    rf»r»lr  tha  vnar\f\>],~.iui1li—    _i!-i  i...  -^ 

-  ...•  .v.^pOn=iuilitj  VI  ciandesiineiy  milking  her,  so  that 

when  she  calved  there  was  no  inflamed  udder,  there  was  no  fussing 
with  Imiments.  Its  four  quarters  were  now  evenly  developed ;  the 
only  difference  was  the  former  shrun-'-,  quarter  was  larger  if 


If  ' 


i    ! 


116 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


anything,  than  the  others,  and,  throughout  the  season,  the  yield  of 
milk,  from  the  same  keeping,  was  essentially  increased  over  the 
yield  of  the  previous  year.  I  never  disclosed  tlie  sec  ret,  however, 
until  I  was  grown  up.  But  I  acquired  a  very  useful  lesson  which 
I  applied  in  my  practice  long  before  the  theory  that  it  was  best  to 
milk  a  cow  previous  to  calving  was  generally  adopted  by  owners 
around  me. 

TETHERING. 

A  professional  friend  of  mine  is  the  owner  of  three  horses  and 
two  imported  cows,  all  of  which  are  kept  in  very  high  condition. 
He  informs  me  that  for  several  years,  with  the  exception  of  one 
year,  two  and  one  half  acres  of  land  have  furnished  all  the  hay 
consumed  by  the  five  animals,  together  with  pasturage  for  one 
cow  ;  tlie  other  cow  being  dry  during  the  summer,  is  pastured  in 
the  country.  His  land  is  naturally  good  grass  land,  being  moist, 
well  drained,  and  perfectly  smooth.  The  apparatus  for  tethering 
his  cow,  when  at  pasture,  consists  of  a  pole  or  joist,  the  short  end 
of  which  is  weighted,  swivel <'d  on  an  iron  upright,  standing,  when 
in  position,  about  four  feet  above  the  ground,  giving  the  apparatus 
the  appearance  of  a  model  of  an  old-fashioned  well  sweep.  The 
halter  being  attached  to  the  upper  end,  is  always  above  her  back 
while  feeding.  This  arrangement  allows  the  cow  the  range  of  a 
circuit  thirty  feet  in  diameter.  The  upright  is  removed  to  the  arc 
of  the  circle  at  morning  and  noon.  In  this  manner  she  traverses 
the  length  of  the  lot,  four  hundred  feet,  in  fourteen  days,  when 
she  is  brought  back  to  the  starting  point,  to  repeat  the  journey 
again.  In  this  manner,  twelve  thousand  feet  of  land  is  made  to 
furnish  pasturage  for  one  cow  during  the  entire  summer,  and  be- 
sides this,  she  has  no  feed  whatever.  The  cow  is  always  in  good 
condition,  and  the  ground  never  appears  very  closely  cropped,  and 
I  have  no  doubt  that  were  she  restricted  to  one  quarter  of  an  acre, 
or  ten  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety  feet,  she  would  still  be 
better  fed  than  most  cows  that  are  at  pasture.  The  droppings  of 
the  cow  are  daily  removed  from  this  range,  so  that  she  always 
has  a  clean  feeding  ground.  All  the  manure  made  by  the  five 
animals  is  annually  returned  to  this  lot,  and,  in  addition,  the  owner 
informs  me,  once  in  three  years  he  gives  it  a  dressing  of  a  ton  of 


Tound  bone. 


PEARL  MILLET. 


After  reading  of  Mr.  Peter  Henderson's  experiment  with  Pearl 
Millet,  as  described  in  the  "American  Agriculturist,"  I  deter- 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


117 


mined  to  make  a  trial  with  it  myself.  Accordingly,  last  year,  I 
sowed  an  area  of  eigliteen  square  rods  witii  it,  in  drills,  fourteen 
inclies  apart;  six  rods  were  setapart  to  be  cut  and  dried  for  fodder. 
Tlie  product  of  tlie  otlier  twelve  rods  was  fed  green.  On  tlie 
twentieth  of  June,  a  month  after  sowing,  the  growth  measund 
about  three  feet  in  hight.  On  this  date  we  commenced  cutting 
it,  and  feeding  to  the  cow  all  'she  would  eat.  She  ate  it  witli  a 
greater  apparent  relish  than  any  other  green  feed  that  liad  been 
given  her.  The  cutting  was  finished  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  July, 
on  which  day  the  last  cutting  measured  about  four  feet  in  hight. 
The  second  cutting  was  commenced  on  the  twenty-seventh  of 
July,  and  finished  on  the  twenty-second  of  August,  the  growth 
averaging  nearly  three  and  a  half  feet.  The  third  cutting  was 
commenced  on  the  twenty-third  and  finished  on  the  thirty  first  of 
August.  The  growth  was  about  two  feet  at  the  beginning  of  the 
cutting,  but  not  more  than  ten  inches  at  tlie  finish.  The  fourth 
and  last  cutting  was  commenced  on  the  sixteenth,  and  finished  on 
the  twenty-first  of  September,  after  which  the  ground  appeared 
exhausted,  and  no  further  growth  was  made.  The  twelve  roda 
cut  and  fed  green  yielded  feed  sufficient  for  seventy-five  days, 
aside  from  her  usual  ration  of  bran  or  oil  meal,  while  the  product 
from  the  six  rods,  cut  and  fed  dry,  only  two  cuttings  being  made, 
was  suflScient  to  feed  her  for  thirty -four  days,  malting  a  total  feed 
for  one  hundred  and  nine  days,  from  eighteen  rods  of  ground ;  at 
which  rate  it  would  require  sixty  and  one-quarter  rods  of  ground 
to  furnish  forage  for  a  year. 


AN  EXCELLENT  COMPOST. 

The  only  stable  manure  I  use  on  my  crops  is  that  made  by  my 
cow.  All  my  other  fertilizers  are  artificially  produced.  In  the 
course  of  the  year,  in  prosecuting  my  regular  business,  I  render  soma 
two  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  tallow.  This  is  all  done  by  boiling 
it  with  sulphuric  acid.  The  acid  attacks  and  decomposes  the  ani- 
mal tissue,  leaving  the  rendered  tallow  floating  on  its  surface.  A 
part  of  the  dissolved  animal  tissue,  together  with  the  bones  that 
are  sometimes  smuggled  in  with  the  rough  fat,  settles  to  the  bottom 
of  the  tanks,  and  a  part  remains  dissolved  in  the  acid.  This  spent 
acid,  together  with  the  deposit  in  the  bottom  of  the  tanks,  is  the 
source  of  all  my  nitrogen,  except  what  may  be  in  the  manure  from 

tKo  nnnr     a  a   -vwrckW  net  n   ^\^v»4-i^^    «P»«,^*^1 *,i. ,-«         Ti _ • 

,.,.,,  ^s.  TT,  rts   wmi  do  d.  yrjii.iijn  ui   my  |;ilU3pjluruUs.       1.  UUVU  UCCUSlOQ 

to  use  considerable  of  the  potash  of  commerce  in  some  of  my 
manufactures.    For  my  land,  I  make  of  this  a  saturated  solution, 


\ 


118 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


ill 


and  then  dry  It,  by  stirring  Into  it  i  mixture  of  equal  parts  of 
ground  pliwUT  und  Bifted  coal  aslies.  Tliis,  in  a  few  days,  becomcB 
Bulpliatc  of  potiwli,  lime,  and  coal  ahhes,  at  least  1  judge  that  it 
does,  for  it  loses  all  its  causticity. 

In  preparing  my  fertilizers,  I  nix  the  product  of  my  tanks  with 
loam,  near  the  place  to  be  planted ;  this,  in  tlie  spring.  Is  dug  over 
anil  mixed  with  tlie  manure  from  the  stable.  The  effect  of  thid 
mixing  is  to  make  tlie  manure  very  fine  in  a  very  short  time. 
After  plowing,  tins  compost  is  spread  upon  the  land,  and  harrowed 
in.  I  then  follow  witli  ground  l)one,  wliich  costs  me,  delivered  at 
my  place,  bolted,  twenty-live  dollars  per  ton,  at  the  rate  of  twelve 
hundred  pounds  to  tlie  acre,  and  with  the  potash  nuxture,  at  the 
rate  of  two  hundred  and  forty  pounds  to  the  acre,  whicli  is  also 
harrowed  in.  In  distributing  the  potash,  I  distribute  more  of  it 
wlicre  I  intend  to  plant  peas  or  potatoes,  and  less  where  I  intend  to 
plant  corn,  squashes,  and  turnips.  In  distributing  the  bone,  I  re- 
verse this.  It  is  on  a  light,  sandy  loam,  fertilized  in  tliis  manner, 
with  an  excess  of  nitrogen,  no'  doubt,  that  I  expect,  the  coming 
summer,  to  raise  enough  feed  for  a  cow  on  less  than  half  an  acre 
of  ground.  The  land  on  which  my  experiment  was  tried  last  year 
was  a  turned  sod  that  had  had  no  manure  of  any  kind  for  more 
than  ten  years.  This  year  it  will  be  tried  on  land  that  was  ma- 
nured as  above  last  year. 


KEEriNQ  ONE  COW. 


lid 


A    WOMAN'S    SUCCESS    AND    EXPEKIENCE. 

BT  MRS.   MART  L.   TAYLOR,    i<ORTH  VBRNON,   INDIANA. 

My  success  In  keeping  the  family  cow  is  mainly  due  to  the 
superior  sense  of  ttmt  animal  in  coming  into  being  in  a  latitude 
wliere  a  cow  can  live  with  as  little  care  and  protection,  and  wliere 
tlie  face  of  unplowed  and  uniiarrowed  nature  furnishes  as  much 
fo.i  I  for  her  us  any  other;  latitude  tliirty-nine. 

My  C'W  is  a  scrub— cost  twenty  dollars;  had  her  calf  on  the 
fourteenth  of  February,  1879,  and  we  complimented  the  saint  on 
whose  day  she  came  by  calling  her  Valentine. 

HOW    WE    MANAGED   TUB    CALF. 

I  put  the  calf  in  a  pen  made  in  the  fence  corner  and  covered 
with  a  few  old  boards,  and  let  the  cow  in  to  her  every  night — first 
taking  from  the  cow  what  milk  we  needed  for  our  family  of  four 
persons.  I  left  her  with  the  calf  all  night,  and  in  the  morning 
milked  what  the  calf  had  left  for  me.  This  was  not  much  after 
the  first  two  weeks,  and  after  two  more  weeks  I  only  wasted  my 
time  at  milking  in  the  morning.  I  parted  with  the  calf  at  three 
months  old  for  eight  dollars,  and  laid  this  sum  by  as  my  capital  to 
draw  against  for  the  cow's  winter  keeping. 

My  farm  is  half  an  acre  in  extent,  and  all  of  it,  except  the  space 
occupied  by  the  cottage  and  a  small  garden,  is  lawn,  and  is  well  set 
in  Blue-grass,  with  a  sprinkling  of  Orchard-grass. 

SUMMER    MANAGEMENT. 

I  sold  my  lawn  mower  and  put  a  short  rope  around  my  cow's 
horns.  To  this  I  fastened  the  chain  of  an  old  chain-pump.  The 
pump  had  served  its  day,  and  was  now  laid  aside.  This  old 
pump-chain  was  about  sixteen  feet  long,  and  through  the  end  of 
it  I  stuck  an  old  iron  garden  stake  into  the  ground,  and  staked 
my  cow  out  on  the  lawn.  In  the  chain  I  put  rings  one  yard  apart, 
and  by  running  my  garden  stake  through  a  ring  nearer  or  farther 
from  the  rope  around  the  cow's  horns,  I  could  give  her  a  larger 
or  smaller  circle  to  graze  on,  and  so  let  her  eat  very  near  to  ever- 
greens and  other  shrubbery  without  danger  of  having  them  in- 
jured. She  pulled  up  the  stake  several  times  at  first,  but  the 
remedy  for  tUlB  came  of  itself.  In  my  desire  to  make  her  very 
secure,  I  had  tied  the  rope  around  her  horns  too  tightly  and  made 
her  head  sore.    She  ceased  pulling,  and  though  her  head  soon  got 


i  f 


120 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


well,  she  has  never  since  pulled  up  the  stake ;  so  that  my  mistake 
in  fastening  the  rope,  though  it  caused  me  self-reproaclies  at  the 
time,  really  proved  a  blessing  in  the  end,  for  had  she  formed  the 
habit  of  pulling  the  stake  up,  I  should  have  been  forced  to  dis- 
continue staking  her  out  for  fear  of  her  destroying  the  shrubbery. 
My  cow  seems  to  have  a  spite  at  shrubbery  proportioned  to  its 
^uty,  and  this  spite  seems  intensified  against  such  plants  as  she 
cannot  eat.  A  young  cedar,  for  instance,  she  will  never  pass  with- 
out trying  to  demolish  it  with  her  horns.  By  means  of  the  rings 
in  my  chain,  I  could  stake  her  so  that  she  could  eat  up  to  the  edge 
of  an  evergreen  without  being  able  to  touch  it  with  her  horns,  and 
I  found  the  horns  the  only  part  that  the  shrubbery  had  to  fear,  for 
she  never  yet  has  tried  to  destroy  anything  with  her  heels. 

My  lawn,  under  the  care  of  this  new  one-cow  lawn-mower,  be- 
came the  admiration  and  envy  of  the  whole  neighborhood.  The 
chickens  followed  her  and  scattered  her  droppings,  so  that  the 
lawn  was:  always  clean.  I  found  it  a  great  improvement  on  the 
old  hand  lawn-mower,  and  much  less  labor,  for  the  staking  out 
was  far  less  trouble  than  running  the  mower.  Besides,  I  sold  the 
old  machine  for  almost  half  the  price  I  paid  for  the  cow.  But, 
strange  as  it  seems  to  me  now,  I  at  first  felt  a  little  ashamed  of  my 
new  mower,  for  I  got  in  the  practice  of  staking  the  cow  on  the 
front  lawn  at  night,  and  moving  her  to  the  back  lawn  early  in  the 
morning. 

She  did  her  work  so  silently  in  the  darkness  that  my  neighbors 
wondered  much  that  in  so  well-kept  a  lawn  they  never  heard  the 
click  of  the  lawn-mower. 

"We  have  no  storms  in  the  summer  in  this  latitude  from  which 
a  cow  needs  any  more  protection  than  a  tree  afibrds.  When  it 
rained  I  milked  her  under  the  shelter  of  a  beech. 

In  June,  I  rented  a  one-quarter  acre  lot  for  two  dollars,  and  for 
one  dollar  hired  it  plowed  and  laid  off  in  furrows  a  little  over  two 
feet  apart.  In  these  furrows  I  dropped  corn,  the  grains  two  1o 
four  inches  apart.  I  hired  it  plowed  once  with  a  shovel  plow. 
This  cost  seventy-five  cents.  At  the  first  frost,  I  had  it  cut  and 
put  ':p  in  small  sliocks.  A  woman  that  does  washing  for  me,  and 
occasionally  chores  about  the  house,  did  this  at  forty  cents  a  day. 
She  was  several  days  at  it,  but  during  the  time  performed  other 
work  about  the  house.  I  think  sin  spent  about  two  solid  days  on 
it.  This  corn-fodder,  with  few  large  ears  on  it,  but  a  great  many 
nubbins,  made  my  fodder  and  grain  for  the  cow  for  the  winter. 
Later  in  the  fall,  when  the  corn-stalks  were  thoroughly  cured,  I 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


121 


had  them  placed  against  poles  set  on  crotches  around  the  place 
•where  the  cow  was  sheltered  during  the  winter.  The  stalks  were 
leaned  against  the  poles  from  both  sides,  and  made  a  sloping  roof 
both  ways,  so  as  to  shed  snow  and  rain.  From  these  poles  I  gave 
the  cow  an  armful  of  this  corn  and  fodder  night  and  morning,  and 
though  the  snow  did  sometimes  lodge  on  them,  and  make  my 
mittens  cold,  I  could  generally  find  a  spot  on  one  side  or  the  other 
that  was  clear  of  snow.  This  work  of  putting  up  the  fodder  for 
winter  use  cost  about  two  dollars. 

My  cow  had  been  used  to  "  slops  "  and  meal,  and  did  not  take 
kindly  lo  whole  corn  at  first.  I  was  advised  to  husk  the  corn,  and 
get  it  ground;  but  by  feeding  her  a  few  small  or  broken,  or  soft 
ears  from  my  hand,  she  soon  became  eager  for  it,  and  has  learned 
to  grind  it  as  well  as  the  mill,  and  at  less  cost  of  going  to  and 
from,  to  say  nothing  of  the  toll.  But  even  if  she  was  not  as  good 
a  corn  crusher  as  the  mill-stones,  there  would  be  no  loss,  for  my 
fowls  follow  her  faithfully,  and  pick  up  every  broken  grain  that 
is  dropped ;  so  the  miller's  toll  that  1  save  keeps  me  in  chickens 
and  eggs.  Now  that  the  cow  had  come  to  eat  whole  corn,  I  was 
told  that  she  would  muss  over  the  fodder,  hunting  for  the  nubbins, 
and  waste  the  stalks ;  but  by  sprinkling  a  little  brine  on  the  stalks 
when  she  became  dainty,  I  found  I  could  make  her  eat  them  as 
closely  as  was  desirable. 

A  WINTER  SHELTER. 

I  had  no  stable.  The  cow  stood  out  in  all  the  storms  until  late 
in  December.  The  hair  grew  very  thick,  almost  like  a  bufialo 
robe,  and  she  did  not  seem  to  mind  the  cold.  There  was  an  old 
chicken  house  on  the  place,  standing  on  oosts  about  five  feet  high. 
It  was  in  a  hollow,  and  was  sheltered  bj  evergreens  on  the  north 
and  west.  As  I  pulled  up  her  stake  one  night  in  a  drizzle  to  let 
her  go  under  tbe  tree  where  I  milked  her,  she  started  on  the  gallop 
for  this  house,  and  from  that  time  it  was  her  winter  couch.  There 
I  milked  and  fed  her.  I  lied  the  chain  around  one  of  the  corner 
posts,  so  as  to  leave  her  the  choice  of  the  shelter  of  the  building 
or  of  exposure  to  the  storm  at  her  discretion,  and  I  must  say  that 
she  often  surprised  me  by  seeming  as  fond  as  a  child  of  standing 
out  in  the  rain.  Under  this  coop  I  fed  her  fodder ;  the  stalks  she 
left,  littered  down  her  bed,  and  I  had  more  manure  in  the  spring 
than  I  had  ever  had  before.  A  boy  spread  it  from  a  wheelbarrow 
at  twentv-five  cents  a  da"*^.  The  sprip.""  before  I  ■naid  fift^  cents  a 
load  for  the  manure,  and  two  dollars  and  fifty  cents  a  day  for  ihe 
hauling. 
6 


V12 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


II 


ABOUT  SALTING. 

I  never  fed  the  cow  any  salt  for  health  during  the  summer,  but 
she  kept  healthy,  and  the  butter  came.  In  the  fall,  I  began  feed- 
ing her  the  house  slops,  night  and  morning,  and  when  she  did  not 
eat  them  freely  I  put  a  little  salt  in.  When  I  thought  she  was  not 
eating  her  fodder  up  clean  enough,  I  would  sprinkle  on  a  little 
brine  with  an  old  broom.  I  never  fed  salt  for  her  good,  but  some- 
times for  mine.  In  the  fall,  when  I  wanted  her  to  eat  up  weeds 
before  they  wont  to  seed,  I  used  occasionally  to  sprinkle  with 
brine  such  spots  as  I  wanted  eaten  off  closely.  I  never  could 
make  my  old  lawn-mower  cut  off  weeds  any  closer  than  grass,  but 
this  new  lawn-mower  would  eat  these  weed  patches  to  the  collars 
of  the  roots. 

My  cow  became  used  to  this  kind  of  life,  makes  me  no  trouble, 
has  furnished  the  milk  and  butter  for  our  family  of  four  the  whole 
year,  and  some  butter  to  send  to  my  friends,  and  a  little  to  sell.  I 
liave  fodder  enough  from  my  quarter  acre  to  keep  her  until  grass  is 
abundant,  and  have  one  dollar  and  twenty  cents  of  the  price  of  my 
calf  still  on  hand. 

I  might  go  on  and  tell  you  how  I  used  to  buy  hay  at  a  high 
price  for  wintering  my  cow,  and  quantities  of  bran,  brewers'  grains 
and  corn-meal ;  how  the  hay  always  made  her  costive  and  hide- 
bound, and  how  she  never  ate  it  with  half  the  relish  which  she 
does  the  corn  fodder ;  how  I  found  it  an  unladylike  act  to  raise  my 
foot  and  force  the  garden  stake  into  the  ground,  and  so  contrived 
a  smaller  iron  that  I  could  more  graceful ij'  plant,  and  that  no  un- 
ruly cow  ever  could  pull  up ;  how  with  this  new  stake  I  can  safely 
leave  her  on  the  lawn  all  night  with  the  fullest  confidence  of  find- 
ing her  m  the  morning  just  where  I  left  her ;  how  when  at  first 
the  cow  got  loose  and  wandered  to  the  garden,  I  discovered  that 
the  taste  of  the  butter  was  disagreeably  affected  by  her  eating 
certain  lierbs,  and  how  it  was  very  pleasantly  flavored  by  others; 
liow  I  am  cultivating  these  herbs  to  make  the  sweetest  and  most 
i- olden  butter ;  how — but  dear  me !  for  a  one-cow  story  it  is  already 
too  long, 


KEEPING    Oi^E   COW. 


125 


UNDERDRATNING    AND    CARE    OF    MANURE. 

BT  H.   H.   HALL,  NEW  ORLEANS,   LA. 

Let  US  locate  one  acre  of  land  on  the  thirty-eighth  degree  of 
north  latitude,  midway  across  the  continent,  say  near  the  City  of 
St.  Louis.  While  under  the  intensive  system  of  cultivation  which 
will  be  pursued,  less  land  than  one  acre  will  ultimately  be  found 
sufficient  to  supply  the  wants  of  one  cow,  it  would  not  be  advis- 
able to  begin  with  a  less  quantity.  That  one  acre  is  sufficient  is 
opposed  to  the  general  opinion,  as  witness  the  assertion  of  Mr. 
Schull,  of  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.,  that  the  land  in  pasturage  and  hay, 
requisite  for  the  support  of  one  cow,  is  three  acres,  and  this  accords 
with  the  estimate  of  Mr.  Carrington  for  moderately  good  dairy 
farms  in  England.  Colman  says :  Three  acres  are  required  for  a 
cow  in  Berksire  Co.,  Mass.  Mr.  Farrington,  in  the  Report 
of  the  American  Dairymen's  Association  says,  four;  while 
Mr.  X.  A.  Willard  thinks  that  in  Herkimer  Co.,  N.  Y.,  one  and  a 
half  to  two  acres  will  pasture  one  cow,  and  that  in  some  excep- 
tional cases  one  acre  will  suffice. 

True  it  is  that  these  estimates  take  into  consideration  grass  and 
hay  solely,  and  the  treatment  of  the  land  is  presumed  to  be  that 
usually  pursued,  viz.:  scant  allowance  of  manure,  absence  of  sub- 
soil drainage,  and  consequently  shallow  cultivation. 

But  high  manuring  and  deep  cultivation  are  indispensable  in 
view,  viz.:  the  obtaining  the  greatest  quantity  of  dairy  food  from 
the  least  land.  And  high  cultivation,  implying  depth  of  soil,  tilth, 
porosity  and  aeration  is  impossible  without  subsoil  drainage ;  nor 
in  its  absence  does  manure  produce  its  best  effects.  It  is  foreign 
to  the  purpose  of  this  article  to  elucidate  the  action  of  tile  drain- 
ing upon  crops  and  soil.  The  lasting  and  great  benefit  of  the 
system  is,  to-day,  a  matter  of  such  plain  fact,  that  no  intelligent 
agriculturist  will  question  it. 

Therefore  we  begin  by  selectir.  ^  an  acre  of  land  which  affords  the 
best  facihties  for  laying  tile-drainage  pipes.  An  easy  slope  with  a 
good,  open  outlet  into  ditch,  run,  or  gulch,  is  all  that  is  required. 
The  advantages  of  a  sunny  exposure  are  so  obvious  that,  if 
possible,  we  should  choose  land  which  trends  to  the  south  and 
east.  The  tile-draming  of  one  acre  will  necessitate  an  outlay  of 
about  twenty-five  dollars ;  but  this  expenditure  is  indispensable 
to  the  obtaining  of  the  hpp.t  rpi=.ults. 

THE    DUNG    HEAP. 

Truly  did  the  German  agriculturist,  Schwerz,  in  seeing  the  fer- 
tile streamlets  oozing  and  trickling  away  from  the  exposed  manuro 


126 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


li 


lii 

III! 


piles  of  his  opinionated  countrymen,  denonimate  the  dung  heap 
the  "  Fountainhead  of  Benediction."  This,  like  other  blessings, 
may  but  too  readily  be  perverted  in  its  uses. 

Impressed  with  the  necessity  of  husbinding  every  part  and 
portion  of  this  substratum  of  good  agriculture,  we  choose  between 
two  distinct  methods  of  saving  and  utilizing  the  fluid  and  solid 
dejecta,  viz.:  the  dry  and  wet.  In  the  former  the  dejecta  are  com 
mingled  with  sucli  absorbents  as  dry  earth,  leaves,  straw,  sawdust, 
etc. ;  in  the  latter,  they  are  received  in  a  tank  where  they  are 
mixed  with  suflacient  water  to  stay  loss  by  too  rapid  fermentation. 


Fig.  24.— A   cow  STABLE  WITH   MANUKE   CELLAR. 

The  application  of  'he  manure  under  either  method  is  respectively 
in  Its  dry  or  m  its  'uquid  condition. 

If  the  dry  or  absorbent  method  be  adopted,  it  will  be  found  ad- 
vantageous to  locate  the  stable  oa  a  little  declivity,  so  as  to  secure 
a  manure  cellar  with  the  least  excavation. 

Thus,  in  fig.  34,  G  represents  a  manure  cellar  under  the  cow, 
with  "  door  at  K  for  removal  of  manure.  The  floor  and  walls,  to  a 
hight  of  two  feet,  of  this  cellar  should  be  cemented.  The  floor, 
on  which  the  cow  stands,  should  be  of  two-inch  oak  plank,  with 
gutter  behind,  and  a  trap  to  empty  the  contents  of  the  gutter  in) 
the  cellar.  On  level  tracts  of  ground  the  Flemish  stable,  as  used 
in  parts  ot  the  Brabant,  and  as  described  in  the  following  plan  fig. 
25,  by  Fehx  Villeroy  (Manuel  de  I'Eleveur  de  Betes,  a  Comes,  6 
Ed.,  p.  63),  could  be  advantageously  used  for  one  cow.  In  figure 
25,  A  is  the  place  where  the  cow  stands;  B,  Passage  for  dis- 
tributing food,  etc.;  C,  Depression  where  the  manure  is  allowed  to 
accumulate  behind  the  cow  i  £>,  Cellar  for  roots ;  HJ,  Hay  loft. 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


127 


In  this  plan  the  floor  A  and  G  would  requite  to  be  finished  in 
brick  and  cement,  or  concrete. 

The  warmth  of.  the  stable  might,  at  times,  develop  a  too  rapid 
fermentation  of  the  manure.  This  would  be  checked  by  working 
the  pile  and  by  forking  it  over. 

But  to  secure  perfect  cleanliness,  purity  of  air,  and  freedom  of  tlic 
hay  stored  above  from  the  odors  of  fermentation  going  on  in  t 


Fig.  35.— SECTIONAL  VIEW  OF  STABLE. 

dung  heap,  the  manure  would  be  better  placed  outside  of  the 
stable  walls,  as  suggested  in  figure  26  (see  next  page). 

The  bottom  of  the  manure  bin  is  only  twenty-  our  inches  below 
the  surface,  as  on  level  ground  the  labor  of  raising  the  manure 
from  a  deep  cellar  would  be  disproportionate  to  the  advantages 
of  the  depth.  The  floor  of  the  stall  should  be  laid  m  brick  and 
cement,  or  in  concrete,  as  should  be  the  floor  and  lower  walls  of 
the  manure  bin.  The  floor  of  the  stall  should  be  kept  covered 
with  dry  earth,  leaves,  sawdust,  or  spent  tan-bark;  and  the  bottom 
of  the  bm  should  be  covered  to  the  depth  of  several  mches,  with 
similar  absorbents.  In  the  absence  of  these  to-be-preferred  ma 
tenals,  weeds,  straw,  or  other  dry  vegetable  refuse,  may  be  used. 
With  tlie  gutter  sufficiently  inclined,  the  excessive  urine  will  of 
itself  flow  readily  to  the  bin ;  the  solid  matter  should  be  removed 
twice  daily,  just  before  the  cow  is  milked.  The  gutter  should  be 
washed  down  with  a  pail  of  water  daily,  and  sprinkled  with  gyp- 
sum (sulphate  of  lime).  The  manure  pile,  as  it  increases,  should 
be  constantly  commingled  with  fresh  absorbents.  This  is  most 
readily  and  economically  dore  by  baitincr  a  pig  with  a  handful  of 
maize  cast  on  the  manure  in  the  bin.    The  lusty  porker  will  ^o 


128 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


I M 


to  the  bottom  of  tlie  pile,  it  need  be,  for  eacli  grain,  and  by  his 
energetic  rooting  and  tramplini^,  will  daily  incorporate  the  ma 
terials  in  the  most  thorough  manner. 

On  page  260  of  Boussingault's  Rural  Economy  (Law's  transla- 
tion) are  some  very  urgent  warnings  against  the  frequent  turning 
of  dung  heaps.  His  objection,  Mr.  Law  thinks,  should  be  limited 
to  more  than  three  turnings  of  the  dung.  But  this  objection  and 
limitation  apply  to  horse  manure,  the  more  active  fermentation  of 
which  rapidly  develops  the  highly  volatile  salt  known  as  carbon- 
ate of  ammonia.    There  can  hardly  be  too  thorough  a  working 


ill! 


:i 


ill 


i 


MANURE    BIN 
6  X  S 


CISTERN 
Sfb 


Fig.  38. — PLAN  OP  STABLE  WITH  CISTERN  AND  MANURE  BIN. 

together  of  cow-manure,  with  its  organic  absorbents,  particularly 
when  the  workmg  is  accompanied  by  the  compacting  tread  of 
animals. 

The  pile  should  be  watched,  and  the  slightest  perception  of  the 
pungent  ammoniacal  odor  should  be  the  signal  for  more  absorb- 
ents, bearing  in  mind  that  all  organic  matter  thus  composted 
becomes  a  valuable  fertilizer,  and  remembering  that  nothing 
should  be  left  undone  to  increase  to  the  greatest  extent  possible 
the  source  of  your  anticipated  blessings. 

The  manure  bin  should,  of  course,  be  so  covered  as  to  exclude 
ram  and  sunshine. 

If  the  liquid  or  dilute  method  be  employed,  m  place  of  the 
manure  bin  in  the  plan,  it  will  be  necessary  to  construct  an  un- 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


129 


derground  cemented  t  nk  or  cistern,  say  of  a  depth  of  eight  feet 
and  diameter  of  six  to  seven  feet  at  the  bottom.  Tliis  tank  must 
be  provided  with  a  pump  for  raising  tiie  fluid,  the  tube  of  which 
should  terminate  in  a  strainer  at  about  twelve  inches  from  the 
bottom  of  the  tank.  An  opening  should  be  left  in  the  top  of  the 
cistern  for  inspection,  and  for  the  insertion  of  a  proper  implement 
to  stir  the  sediment.  The  pump  should  rise  sufficiently  high  to 
permit  the  pumping  of  the  fluid  directly  into  a  tank  on  wheels 
used  for  the  distribution  thereof  in  the  fields.  A  condemned 
watering  cart,  which  could  probably  be  purchased  cheaply, 
would  be  an  excellent  instrument  for  this  distribution.  Sulphate 
of  iron,  green  vitriol,  should  be  freely  used  to  change  the  carbon- 
ate of  ammonia  into  the  sulphate,  thereby  obtaining  a  fixed, 
instead  of  a  highly  volatile  salt. 


130 


KEliriNO   ONE  COW. 


KEEPING  A  COW  m  A  VILLAGE  STAliLE. 


!' 


i 


BY  OKAJiOB  JUDI),   KLU8IIIN0,  L.  I. 

A  Imsinoss  man  of  Now  York,  living  in  one  of  the  nei^'hboriiif,' 
villau:('8,  iK'ini?  troubled  to  get  good  milk  for  young  children  in  his 
family,  took  our  advice  the  latter  part  of  tlie  winter  and,  so  to 
speak,  went  into  the  dairy  business  on  his  own  account.  The  re- 
sult will  be  instructive  to  tens  of  thousands  v>f  faniilii's  in  cities 
and  villages.  lie  has  no  i)asture  grounds,  the  only  conv(!nience 
being  a  roomy  stall  in  a  carriage  barn,  with  opportunity  for  the 
cow  to  sun  herself  and  take  limited  exercise  in  a  small  area,  say 
fifteen  by  twenty  feet,  at  the  side  of  the  barn,  and  this  was  seldom 
used.  The  stall  is  kept  clean  and  neat,  with  fresh  straw  litter, 
and  the  cow  has  remained  in  excellent  health  and  vigor.  Chewing 
her  cud  and  manufacturing  milk  seem  to  give  all  the  exercise 
needed.  Her  feed  has  been  bale  hay,  cut  in  a  small  hay-cutter, 
and  mixed  wet  with  corn-meal,  bran,  and  shorts,  with  some  un- 
cooked potato  parings,  cabbage  leaves,  left  over  rice,  oatmeal,  etc., 
from  the  kitchen. 

A  laborer  is  paid  one  dollar  a  week  to  milk  and  feed  and  brush 
her  Jiight  and  morning,  and  take  care  of  the  stable,  and  he  is  al- 
lowed any  excess  of  milk  she  gives  over  twelve  quarts  a  day.  lie 
prepares  a  mess  for  her  noon  feed,  which  is  given  by  one  of  the 
boys  at  school  when  he  comes  home  to  lunch.  The  cow  is  a  grade, 
probably  three-fourths  Jersey  and  one-fourth  common  blood,  llcr 
milk  is  rich,  yields  abundant  cream,  and,  as  the  owner's  family 
say,  "  Is  worth  fully  double  any  milk  we  ever  got  from  the  best 
milk  dealers."  One  neighboring  family  gladly  takes  six  quarts  a 
day  at  seven  cents  a  quart,  and  would  willingly  pay  much  more  if 
it  were  asked,  and  other  families  would  be  happy  to  get  some  of  it 
at  ten  cents  a  quart ;  but  six  quarts  are  kept  for  home  use,  and  it 
is  valued  far  above  seven  cents  a  quart,  and  worth  more  than  tnat 
amount  in  the  saving  of  butter  in  cooking,  making  puddings,  etc. 
So  it  is  a  very  low  estimate  to  call  the  whole  milk  worth  seven 
cents  a  quart.  No  one  could  deprive  our  business  friend  or  his 
fa Jiily  of  their  good,  home  produced  milk,  if  it  cost  ten  or  twelve 
cents  a  quart.  An  accurate  account  is  kept  of  the  feed ;  the  man 
in  ('':arge  orders  at  the  feed  store  anything  he  desires  for  the  cow, 


KEKPINU    ONE  COW. 


l.-Jl 


uiul  it  is  nil  down  on  a  "  puss-book."    llere  arc  the  flgurcs  for  one 
hundred  days  past : 

THE  cow's   DEBIT  AND  CREDIT  FOU  ONE  HUNDRED  DAY8. 

I>r. 

a50  IhR.  bale  Hay,  at,  ^^2  \wr  ton |0  35 

1,(KJ()  lt)8.  Com  Meal,  at  *l.aj  jut  KKJ  Ihs 13  5() 

40()11)H.  Bran,  at  $1.30  per  100  Ibn 5  20 

200  lbs.  Fine  Food,  "  Shorts,"  at  *1.5r)  per  100  lbs. ..     3  10 

20  bundles  of  bedding  Straw,  at  lOe 2  (X) 

Paid  man  for  care  and  milking,  *1  per  week. . . ..  14  30 
Total  expenses  for  100  days #47  45 

Or. 
1,200  Quarts  of  best  tnilk  (12  (luarts  per  day)  at  7c. .  ..$84  00 
Money  profit  in  1(X)  days 1530  55 


Or,  to  put  it  in  another  way,  the  six  hundred  quarts  scdd  actually 
brought  in  forty-two  dollars  cash,  and  the  entire  six  hundred 
(piarts  used  at  home  cost  five;  dollars  and  forty-five  cents.  The 
cow  cost,  say,  sixty-five  dollars.  The  entire  care,  which  was  not 
paid  in  the  surplus  of  nnlk  above  twelve  quarts  per  day,  is  charged 
in  the  expenses  above.  The  manure  produced,  if  sold,  would 
more  than  meet  interest  on  the  cost  of  cow,  and  any  depreciation  in 
value  by  increasing  age.  Allow  the  above  average  to  be  kept  up 
oidy  two  hundred  days  in  a  year,  and  at  the  end  of  that  time  sup- 
pose the  cow  is  sold  for  half  i)ri(;e  (thirty-two  dollars  and  fifty 
cents),  and  a  fresh  one  substituted,  there  would  still  be  a  gain  of 
forty  dollars  and  sixty  cents  for  two  hundred  days,  or  for  a  year  a 
profit  of  seventy-four  dollars  and  ten  cents. 

With  good  feed  the  sixty-five  dollar  cow  will  keep  up  a  full 
supply  of  milk  at  least  twenty-six  weeks,  and  then  be  worth  forty 
dollars  for  continued  milking  and  breeding.  Sell  her  then  and  buy 
another  fresh  cow  for  sixty-five  dollars— a  loss  of  fifty  dollars  a 
year.  The  above  liberal  allowance  of  forty-seven  dollars  and 
forty-five  cents  for  feed  and  care  one  hundred  days,  amounts  to 
one  hundred  and  seventy-three  dollars  and  nineteen  cents  a  year. 
Adding  the  loss  of  fifty  dollars  for  purchasing  two  fresh  cows, 
makes  the  total  annual  expense  two  hundred  and  twenty-three 
dollars  and  nineteen  cents.  This  would  make  the  supply  of  milk, 
twelve  quarts  a  day  (four  tliousind  three  hundred  and  eighty 
qnart^;),  cost  about  five  cents  a  quart,  or  not  quite  fifty-one  cents 
for  t"n  (puirts.  This  is  not  an  exaggerated  estimate  for  a  sixty- 
five  dollar  cow,  renewed  every  twenty-six  weeks.    The  feed  and 


VVi 


KEEl'INO    ONH   (^OW. 


care  may  \ie  very  much  leHs  than  the  above  forty-seven  dollars 
and  forty-five  cents  per  hundred  days,  by  saving  all  waste  fcnxls 
suitable  for  a  cow,  and  by  securing  pasturage  seven  or  eight 
months,  and  especially  when  a  cow  can  be  cared  for  by  members 
of  the  family,  thus  saving  fifty-two  dollars  a  year.  Taking  the 
country  as  a  whole,  probably  fifty  dollars  will  ordinarily  buy  a 
cow  that  will,  on  fair  feed,  average  ten  to  twelve  quarts  pe^ 
day  for  the  first  six  months  after  calving. 


KEEPING  A   COW    IN   THE  OIL  REGION. 

HT    OKO.    A.    MAIITIN. 

My  experience  with  a  family  cow  developed  nothing  new  in 
methoas  of  keeping  and  feeding,  but  some  of  the  pecuniary 
features  were  out  of  the  ordinary.  It  was  in  one  of  those  vil- 
lages which  spring  up  so  quickly  wherever  a  few  lucky  ones 
have  "struck  oil"  in  Northwestern  Pennsylvania.  Social  and 
domestic  life  was  in  a  very  chaotic  condition,  and  many  things 
which  we  had  been  accustomed  to  regard  as  articles  of  prime 
necessity  in  our  city  hc^me  were  here  scarcely  attainable.  For 
one  thing  it  was  clear  that  the  thin  bluish  fluid  which  was 
served  to  us  at  fifteen  cents  a  quart  was  not  the  kind  of  milk 
we  could  feed  to  our  children.  So  it  was  determined  by  unani- 
mous vote,  in  general  family  council,  that  we  must  have  a  cow. 
One  day,  soon  after  this  decision  was  reached,  a  farmer  who 
lived  some  four  miles  out,  announced  all  his  stock  and  imple- 
ments for  sale.  He  had  sold  his  farm  for  "  oil  territory,"  and 
was  selling  out  with  a  view  of  "  going  West."  He  had  already 
sold  all  his  cows  but  one  which  had  been  his  wife's  pet,  and 
had  therefore  been  held  to  the  last.  So  the  next  morning  I 
mounted  my  horse  and  rode  out  to  the  farm.  It  was  an  elevated, 
wind-swept  tract  of  thin,  cold  clay  soil,  stretching  from  the 
public  highway  to  the  brink  of  a  deep  ravine  overhung  with  a 
dense  growth  of  hemlocks.  Down  in  its  shadowy  depths  rushed 
a  small  but  turbulent  stream.  The  farmer  remarked  incident- 
ally that  he  had  "fooled  away  the  first  hundred  acres  of  his 
farm  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  an  acre,  but  another 
company  had  paid  twice  that  for  the  balance."  It  might  have 
sotueu  liis  chagrin  somewhat  if  he  could  have  foreseen  that 


KEEPTKO  OVE  row. 


13.1 


the  farm  ultimately  proved  to  be  "  dry  territory  '  and  none  of 
the  purcluiHers  ever  succeeded  in  "  striking  oil"  on  it. 

The  cow  stood  in  the  barnyard,  with  a  young  heifer  calf  by 
her  side.  She  was  a  "  native"  of  no  particular  breed,  but  her 
fine  head  and  neck,  broad  hips,  well-set  udder,  and  large  milk 
veins  indicated  a  deep  milker ;  and  the  bargain  was  quickly 
closed  at  the  price  demanded.  An  adjournment  was  had  to 
the  house,  where  the  good  wife  sat  bathed  in  tears  at  the 
thought  of  parting  from  her  pet.  But  she  seemed  to  derive 
some  consolation  from  the  sixty  dollars  which  the  husband 
passed  over  to  her  as  a  personal  perquisite,  wiped  her  eyes  with 
her  apron,  and  went  out  to  take  a  farewell  look  at  the  cow. 
The  wide  gate  was  thrown  open,  the  cow  and  calf  turned  out, 
and  I  remounted  the  horse.  As  soon  as  the  cow  comprehended 
the  situation,  she  turned  back,  bawling  pitifully.  It  was  easy 
to  believe  the  assertion  of  her  recent  owner,  that  the  cow  had 
never  been  off  the  farm  before.  It  was  a  matter  of  no  little 
difficulty  to  drive  the  homesick  animal  the  four  miles  from  her 
native  heath  to  her  destination  in  the  village.  Arrived  there  at 
last,  she  was  put  into  a  comfortable  stable  and  fed.  The  next 
day  the  calf  was  sold  for  two  dollars,  and  our  dairy  was  estab- 
lished, to  the  great  delight  of  the  children. 

It  was  now  the  second  day  of  March ;  pressed  hay  was  selling 
at  three  and  a  half  dollars  per  hundred  pounds,  and  corn  meal 
the  same.  A  few  bales  of  hay  and  a  moderate  supply  of  corn 
meal  and  bran  were  secured,  and  the  question  of  subsistence 
thus  disposed  of.  Our  housemaid  was  a  robust  country  girl, 
who  gladly  accepted  the  additional  responsibility  of  milking 
and  caring  for  the  cow,  in  consideration  of  an  extra  fifty  cents 
per  week  to  be  added  to  her  wages. 

There  was  an  eager  demand  for  all  the  surplus  milk.  The 
steward  of  one  of  the  hotels  came  and  offered  to  take  it  all, 
more  or  less,  at  current  rates,  delivered  to  a  porter  who  should 
be  sent  for  it.  But  we  had  already  promised  several  of  the 
neighbors  a  daily  supply,  which  had  to  be  set  apart,  and  the 
balance  was  sold  to  the  hotel.  For  the  first  two  months  the 
yield  averaged  about  fifteen  quarts  daily.  The  cow  was  given  a 
warm  comfortable  stable  at  night  and  during  bad  weather,  with 
a  small  yard  for  exercise  during  sunny  days.  Spring  came,  at 
length,  and  tlic  hundreds  of  acres  lying  unfunced  around  the 
town,  and  amid  the  forests  of  derricks,  were  clothed  with  a 
luxuriant  growth  of  grass.    The  cow  was  turned  out  to  find 


134 


KEEPING   ONE  COW. 


her  own  pasturage.    Several  other  inhabitants  of  the  town  also 
kept  cows,  and,  by  a  sort  of  general  consent,  they  were  left  un- 
molested, as  free  commoners.     The  fresh  grass  soon  produced 
a  marked  increase  in  the  yield  of  milk,  and  the  price  was  re- 
duced to  ten  cents  per  quart.   Every  evening,  just  before  sunset, 
the  cow  stood  lowing  at  the  gate  of  her  small  yard,  sure  of  a 
mess  of  bran  with  a  small  admixture  of  meal.     Only  five  times 
in  the  season  was  she  missing,  and  then  a  boy  hunted  her  up 
for  twenty-five  cents.     Th on,  after  the  milking  was  done,slie 
lay  chewing  the  cud  of  content,  in  the  open  yard  if  the  night 
was  warm,  and  in  her  stall  when  it  was  rainy,  or  chilly  with 
dew.    As  the  summer  passed,  the  garden  supplied  stalks  of 
sweet  corn,  beet  leaves,  pea-vines,  and  other  herbage,  wliich 
supplpmented  the  evening  and  morning  mess.   The  daily  yield, 
of  course,  diminished  in  the  passing  months,  until  the  supply 
for  the  hotel  was  wholly  cut  off,  the  surplus  being  only  suffi- 
cient for  the  neighbors  who  had  the  first  claim.    Late  in  Octo- 
ber, the  business  which  called  me  to  the  oil  region  was  con- 
cluded, and  we  prepared  to  return  to  "America,"  as  the  half- 
homesick  villagers    called  the  entire    country  outside    their 
present  rough  surroundings.     The  cow  was  for  sale.     It  was 
not  long  before  an  offer  of  forty  dollars  was  accepted,  and  the 
cow  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  new  owner. 

And  now  came  the  question  ol  profit  and  loss.  My  wife  had 
kept  a  strict  account  with  our  cow.  In  fact,  household  accounts 
was  one  of  her  strong  points,  as  a  set  of  neatly  kept  books  bear 
witness,  though  the  hand  that  inscribed  them  has  long  been 
dust.   The  account  with  the  cow  posted  up  something  like  this  : 

Ck. 

By  calf  .  $200 

"    517  qts.  milk  (5)  ]"5c. '."'. 7755 

"  768 "   -  '<  loc. :::  76:8o 

"    cash  for  cow 40.00 

— '■ — $196.35 

To  purchase    money $60.00 

"    brin£?ing  home .  2  00 

"    eOOtt.  pressed  hay  @  $3. 50 2100 

"    200ft)  corn  meal  ((<)  $3.50 7  00 

«*    600tt)  bran  («j  $2.00 12^00 

"   paid  boy  to  hunt  her  up. 1.25 

$103.25 

Balance $  93.10 

The  amount  paid  the  girl  for  milking  was  not  charged  to  the 
cow,    as  the  abundant  supply  consumed  in  the  family  was 


KEEPING   ONE   COW. 


135 


considered  a  full  equivalent.  The  showing  is  so  exceptional 
that  it  might  be  regarded  as  a  "forced  balance "  at  the  first 
glance,  but  it  came  from  the  unlimited  free  pasturage,  and  the 
exceptionally  high  price  of  milk  incident  to  the  peculiar  con- 
ditions in  a  new  "  oil  town."  Besides,  it  was  just  at  the  close 
of  the  civil  war,  when  prices  of  all  commodities  were  great]- 
inflated. 


POKTRAITS   OF  FAMOUS   DAIRY   COWS. 


I. — Jersey  cow  "  Eurotas,"  2454  (Frontispiece),  owned  by  A.  B. 
Darling,  Darlington,  N.  J.  She  yielded  during  one  week  in 
June,  1879,  twenty-two  pounds  six  ounces  of  butter.  She  died 
Oct.  27,  1887,  in  her  seventeenth  year. 

II.— Ayrshire  cow  "  Duchess  of  Smithfield,"  4256  (page  23), 
owned  by  H.  R.  C.  Watson,  West  Farms,  N.  Y.  She  has  an 
official  record  of  four  hundred  and  sixty-three  and  three-quar- 
ter pounds  of  milk  in  seven  days,  and  a  butter  record  of  nine- 
teen pounds  six  ounces  in  the  same  length  of  time.  In  one 
year  she  gave  ten  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-eight  and 
one-quarter  pounds  of  milk. 

III.— Jersey  cow"  Belmeda,"  6229  (page  34),  owned  by  George 
and  H.  B.  Cromwell,  Staten  Island,  N.  Y.  During  the  week 
ending  August  15,  1886,  she  gave  two  hundred  and  eighty-nine 
pounds  ten  ounces  of  milk,  from  which  were  made  twenty 
pounds  four  ounces  of  butter. 

IV.— Guernsey  cow  "  Vestal  of  Larchmont,"  1507  (page  52), 
imported  September,  1883,  by  Mr.  H.  de  B.  Schenck,  Lenox, 
Mass.  Two  pounds  six  ounces  of  butter  were  made  from  the 
milk  she  gave  in  one  day,  two  weeks  after  dropping  her  first  calf. 

v.— Brown  Schwytzer  cow  which  took  the  first  prize  at  the 
National  Exhibition  in  Luzern,  Switzerland,  1881.    Imported. 

VI.— Holstein-Friesian  cow  "Clothilde,"  1308,  owned  by 
Smiths,  Powell  and  Lamb,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  During  the  year 
ending  August  17,  1886,  she  gave  twenty-six  thousand  and 
twenty-one  pounds  eleven  ounces  of  milk,  and  at  the  dairy 
show  in  New  York,  May,  1887,  she  took  the  first  prize  of  |150 
and  a  cup  worth  $100,  as  the  cow  producing  the  most  butter  in 
twenty-four  consecutive  hours,  her  product  being  two  pounds 
seven  and  a  half  ouiices= 


136 


KEEPING  ONE  COW. 


VII.— Shorthorn  dairy  cow  "  Cold  Cream  41;h  "  (page  101), 
owned  by  H.  M.  Queen  Victoria.  She  is  kept  at  the  Shaw  Farm, 
Windsor  Home  Park. 

VIII.— Jersey  cow  "  Abbie  "(page  123),  owned  by  Mr.  Harvey 
Newton,  of  Southville,  Mass.  She  yielded  from  April,  1876,  to 
March,  1877,  ten  thousand  seven  hundred  pounds  of  milk,  from 
which  four  hundred  and  eighty-six  pounds  of  butter  were  made. 


STAlfi/AED  BOO.SS. 


Coamended  1>7  the  Greatest  Educators  of  Germany,  England  and  the  Vnited 
States.    Endorsed  by  Officials,  and  adopted  In  many  Schools 

new  methods  in  Education 

Art,  Real  Mannal  Tralnini:,  Natnre  Stndy.   Ezplalnine  Processes 

whereby  Hand,  Eye  and  Mind  are  Educated  by  Means  that  Conserve  Vital* 

ity  and  Develop  a  Union  of  Thooght  and  Action 

By  3.  Eibcrty  tadd 

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practice.  Not  a  hackneyed  thought  nor  a  stale  picture.  Fresh, 
new.  practical,  scientiflc,  inspiring 

AMONG  T50SS  WHO  ENDORSE  THE  WORK  ARE 

HERBERT  SPENCKR,  DR.  W.  W.  KEENE,  PRESIDENT  HUEY-Of  the  Phila 

delnhla  board  of  education. 
SECRETARY  GOTZE-Of  the  leadlnj?  pedagogical  society  of  Germany  (by  which 

the  book  Is  beinsr  translated  Into  German  for  publlcatioT'  at  Berlin). 
CHARLES  H.  THURBER-Professor  of  PedairoKY,  University  of  Cbicaeo. 
TALCOTT  WILLIAMS-Editor  Philadelphia  Press,  Boolt  News  etc. 
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DR.  A.  E.  WINSHIP-Editoi  Journal  of  Education. 
W.  F.  SLOCUM-Presldent  Colorado  College. 
FREDERICK  WINSOR-Head  master  The  Country  School  for  Boys  of  Baltlmor© 

City,  under  the  auspices  of  Johns  Hopltlns  University.  t"uo"» 

nB^ii.!lS?\^^^*^^T"^^'"'"^*P**  Manual  Training  High  School,  Kansas  City. 
DR.  EDWARD  KIRK— Dean  University  of  Penn. 

Colle'^^^^^"^^^"''  University),  Professor  of  Psychology,  Bible  NormaJ 
ROMAN  STEINER-Baltlmore. 

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Greenhouse  Construction. 

3y  Prof.  L.  R.  Taft.  A  complete  treatise  on  greenhouse 
structures  and  arrangements  of  the  varlou"  forms  and 
styles  of  plant  houses  for  professional  florists  as  wSll 
as  amateurs.    All  the  best  and  most  approved  structiTres 

to^^Sn^''!  ^"^  "l"^''^  aescribe.3  that  anyone  who  desire" 
to  build  a   greenhouse   vvMl   have   no   difllcultv   in   deter 
mimng  the  kind  best  suited  to  his  purpose     The  modorr 
and  most  successful  methods  of  heating  r.     '   ■    -qiatin^ 
are   fully    treated    upon.      Special    chapter.  evo  "d 

excmsWelv"' Th'°c  '"".  ^^r'"^  '''  «"^  ^*-  ^     ^^  Plants 
exclusively.      The    construction    of    hotbeds    and    framec 

ipnf  iT  fPPr^P'-Jate  attention.    Over  one  hundred  ex^lu 

♦1,         :■  1.        ^^^  *"  t^®  reader  and  add  corisiderablv  in 
the  artistic  appearance  of  the  book.    Cloth,  ifmo        $1.5? 


Greenhouse  Management. 


By  L.  R.  Taft.    This  book  forms  an  almost  indlspensa- 

U  the  3Tn?"  •''"'".T   '^  G'-eenhouse  Construction      fn 
It  the  author  gives  the  results  of  his  many  years'  exne- 

anTga  Sf  rn'^hl'"'  "'  *^^  ^"^^*  sucLrsTul'florTsfs 
Snder  glass    %orn?nm  ""^"^^^""^"^   °^   growing  plants 
o,Va+tL         !.'       °,  "^'""te  and  practical   are  the  various 
systems  and  methods  of  growing  and  forcing  roses    vir 
lets    carnations,    and    all    the    most    iX?tanrflorists^ 

by^a'c'a?efuT's  ufv '.Til'-  ^"^  ye^et.ble/descHbed?Th?t 
?L  v,»  i  f,    ^^  ^^  *^'s  work  and  the  following  of  ita 

Clo?h  T4o'^"''''   ''     ^'"'''''     impossible.       Illuftratid 
'  " •        .       .        $1.50 


Bulbs  and  Tuberous-Rooted  Plants. 


By  C.  L.  Allen.  A  complete  treatise  on  the  historv 
description,  methods  of  propagation  and  ftill  directions 
HrL^n/"''^^^^^"^  ^"'*"^'^  °f  b"l^«  in  the  garden  dweN 
expensive''?uxrv"'t\-t'  generally  treated,  bulbs 'a?e  an 
o^^  !J  II     luxury,    while   when   properly   managed     thev 

The  au'thor^oT  hl^  IT^l'  of  pleasure  at  theSt  cosT 
erowfni  o  crin,  ,!  ^°°^  .^^^  ^°^  "^^"y  years  made  bulb 
E  c?lttvSron''«n;,  """^  ^"  ^  recognized  authority  on 
ineir  cultivation  and     management.     The     lllustraHon"* 

•        '        •        •        .        ♦l.oO 


Irrigation  Farming. 


SL  i^  Wilcox.  A  handbook  for  the  practical  apnllca- 
tion  of  M'ater  in   the  production  of  crops.     A  cSle?" 

l^^^Tn  ^"^  ^'^^"^  ^"PP^y-  ^^"^1  construct  on  rese^volfs 
thpl^?"*^^;  P'P'^  ^"'^  irrigation  purposes,  flumes  ani 
their  structure,  methods  of  applying  water  Irrieatlon  of 
field  crops,  the  garden,  the  orcLrd  and  vinevar5^*!S"j! 
mills  ana  pumpa,  appliances  and  contrivances.""  Profuse- 
ly, nandsomely  illustrated.     Cloth,  12mo.       .       f     JlM 


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Landscape  Gardening:. 

By  F.  A.  Waugh,  professor  of  horticulture,  University  of 
Vermont.  A  treatise  on  tlie  general  principles  governing 
outdoor  art;  witli  sundry  suggestions  for  their  application 
in  the  co:atmioner  problems  of  gardening.  Every  para- 
graph is  snort,  terse  and  to  the  point,  giving  perfect 
clearness  to  the  discussions  at  all  points.  In  spite  of 
the  natural  difficulty  of  presenting  abstract  principles 
the  vi^hole  matter  is  made  entirely  plain  even  to  the 
Inexperienced  reader.    Illustrated,  12mo.  Cloth.    .       $  .50 

Funsfi  and  Fungicides. 

By  Prof.  Clarence  M.  Weed.  A  practical  manual  con- 
cerning the  fungous  diseases  of  cultivated  plants  and 
the  means  of  preventing  their  ravages.  The  author  has 
endeavored  to  give  such  a  concise  acconnt  of  the  most 
Important  facts  relating  to  these  as  will  enable  the 
cultivator  to  combat  them  intelligently.  222  pp..  90  ill 
12mo.     Paper.  50  cents;   cloth $i.oo 

Talks  on  Manure. 

By  Joseph  Karris,  M.  S.  A  series  of  familiar  and  prac- 
tical talks  between  the  author  and  the  deacon,  the  doctor 
and  ot.  r  neighbors,  on  the  whole  subject  of  manures 
and  fertilizers;  including  a  chapter  especially  written  for 
It  by  Sir  John  Bennet  Lawes  of  Rothamsted,  England. 
Cloth,  12mo ^  jl  50 

Insects  and  Insecticides. 

By  Clarence  M.  Weed,  D.  Sc,  Prof,  of  entomology  and 
zoology.  New  Hampshire  college  of  agriculture.  A  prac- 
tical manual  concerning  noxious  insects,  and  methods  of 
preventing  their  injuries.  334  pages,  with  many  illus- 
trations.    Cloth,   12mo.    .......        $1.50 

Mushrooms.    How  to  Grow  Them. 

By  Wm  Falconer.  This  is  the  most  practical  work  on 
the  subject  ever  written,  and  the  only  book  on  growing 
mushrooms  published  in  America.  The  author  describes 
how  he  grows  mushrooms,  and  how  they  are  grown  for 
profit  by  the  leading  market  gardeners,  and  for  home 
use  by  the  most  successful  private  growers.  Engraviags 
drawn  from  nature  expressly  for  this  work.    Cloth.    $1.00 

Handboolc  of  Plants  and  General  Horticulture. 

By  Peter  Henderson.  This  new  edition  comprises  about 
50  per  cent,  more  genera  than  the  former  one,  and  em- 
braces the  botanical  name,  derivation,  natural  order, 
etc.,  together  with  a  short  history  of  the  different  genera, 
concise  instructions  for  their  propagation  and  culture, 
and  all  the  leading  local  or  common  English  names, 
together  with  a  comprehensive  glossary  of  botanical  and 
technical  terms.  Plain  instructions  nre  al«^  ^Urcr.  fr^r. 
the  cultivation  of  the  principal  vegetables,  fruits "  and 
flowers.     Cloth,   large  8vo |3_oo 


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STANDARD  BOOKS. 

Ginsens:,  Its  Cultivation,   Harvestins:,  Marketing:  and 
Market  Value. 

By  Maurice  G.  Kalns,  with  a  short  account  of  its  history 
and  botany.  It  discusses  in  a  practical  way  how  to 
begin  with  either  seed  or  roots,  soil,  climate  and  location, 
preparation,  planting-  and  maintenance  of  the  beds,  arti- 
ficial propagation,  manures,  enemies,  selection  for  mar- 
ket and  for  improvement,  preparation  for  sale,  and  the 
profits  that  may  be  expected.  This  booklet  is  concisely 
written,  well  and  profusely  illustrated,  and  should  be 
in  the  hands  of  all  who  expect  to  grow  this  drug  to 
supply  the  export  trade,  and  to  add  a  new  and  profitable 
industry  to  their  farms  and  gardens,  without  interfering 
with  the  regular  work.    12mo $  .35 

Land  Draining:. 

A  handbook  for  farmers  on  the  principles  and  practice 
of  draining,  by  Manly  Miles,  giving  the  results  of  his 
extended  experience  in  laying  tile  drains.  The  directions 
for  the  laying  out  and  the  construction  of  tile  drains 
will  enable  the  farmer  to  avoid  the  errors  of  imperfect 
construction,  and  the  disappointment  that  must  neces- 
sarily follow.  This  manual  for  practical  farmers  will 
also  be  found  convenient  for  references  in  regard  to  many 
questions  that  may  arise  in  crop  growing,  aside  from 
the  special  subjects  of  drainage  of  which  it  treats.  Cloth, 
12mo.  $1.00 

Henderson's  Practical  Floriculture. 

By  Peter  Henderson.  A  guide  to  the  successful  propaga- 
tion and  cultivation  of  fiorists'  plants.  The  work  is  not 
one  for  fiorists  and  gardeners  only,  but  the  amateur's 
wants  are  constantly  kept  in  mind,  and  we  have  a  very 
complete  treatise  on  the  cultivation  of  flowers  under 
glass,  or  in  the  open  air,  suited  to  those  who  grow  flowers 
for  pleasure  .as  we'l  as  those  who  make  them  a  matter 
of  trade.  Beautifully  illustrated.  New  and  enlarged 
edition.    Cloth,  12mo $1.50 

Tobacco  Leaf. 

By  J.  B.  Killebrew  and  Herbert  Myrick.  Its  Culture 
and  Cure,  Marketing  and  Manufacture.  A  practical 
handbook  on  the  most  approved  methods  in  growing, 
harvesting,  curing,  packing,  and  selling  tobacco,  with  an 
account  of  the  operations  in  every  department  of  tobacco 
manufacture.  The  contents  of  this  book  are  based  on 
actual  experiments  in  field,  curing  barn,  packing  house, 
factory  and  laboratory.  It  is  the  only  work  of  the  kind 
In  existence,  and  is  destined  to  be  the  standard  practical 
and  scientific  authority  on  the  whole  subject  of  tobacco 
for  many  years.  Upwards  of  500  pages  and  150  original 
engravings $2.00 


STANDARD  BOOK& 


Play  and  Profit  in  Ny  Garden. 

By  E.  P.  Roe.  The  author  takes  us  to  his  garden  on 
the  rocky  hillsides  in  the  vicinity  of  West  Point,  and 
shows  us  how  out  of  it,  after  four  years'  experience,  he 
evoked  a  profit  of  $1,000,  and  this  while  carrying  on  pas- 
toral and  literary  labor.  It  is  very  rarely  that  so  much 
literary  taste  and  skill  are  mated  to  so  much  agricultural 
experience  and  good  sense.     Cloth,  12mo.       .       ,       $1.00 

Forest  Planting. 

By  H.  Nicholas  Jarchow,  LL.  D.  A  treatise  on  the  care 
of  woodlands  and  the  restoration  of  the  denuded  timber- 
lands  on  plains  and  mountains.  The  author  has  fully 
described  those  European  methods  which  have  proved 
to  be  most  useful  in  maintaining  the  superb  forests  of  the 
old  world.  This  experience  has  been  adapted  lo  the  dif- 
ferent climates  and  trees  of  America,  full  instructions 
being  given  for  forest  planting  of  our  various  kinds  of 
soil  and  subsoil,  whether  on  mountain  or  valley. 
Illustrated,  12mo jl.50 


Soils  and  Crops  of  the  Farm. 

By  George  E.  Morrow,  M.  A.,  and  Thomas  F.  Hunt.  The 
methods  of  making  available  the  plant  food  In  the  soil 
are  described  in  popular  language.  A  short  history  of 
each  of  the  farm  crops  is  accompanied  by  a  discussion 
of  Its  culture.  The  useful  discoveries  of  science  are 
explamed  as  applied  in  the  most  approved  methods  of 
culture.    Illustrated.    Cloth,  12mo $i.oo 

American  Fruit  Culturist. 

By  John  J.  Thomas.  Containing  practical  directions  for 
the  propagation  and  culture  of  all  the  fruits  adapted  to 
the  United  States.  Twentieth  thoroughly  revised  and 
greatly  enlarged  edition  by  Wm.  H.  S.  Wood.  This  new 
edition  makes  the  work  practically  almost  a  new  book 
contamlng  everything  pertaining  to  large  and  small 
fruits  as  well  as  sub-tropical  and  tropical  fruits.  Richly 
Illustrated  by  nearly  800  engravings.    758  pp.,  12mo.    $2.50 

Fertilizers. 

By  Edward  B.  Voorhees,  director  of  the  New  Jersey  Agri- 
cultural Experiment  Station.  It  has  been  the  aim  of 
the  author  to  point  out  the  underlying  principles  and  t» 
discuss  the  important  subjects  connected  with  the  use 
of  fertilizer  materials.  The  natural  fertility  of  the  soil 
the  functions  of  manures  and  fertilizers,  and  the  need 
of  artificial  fertilizers  are  exhaustively  discussed.  Sepa- 
rate chapters  are  devoted  to  the  various  fertilizing  ele- 
ments, to  the  purchase,  chemical  analyses,  methods  of 
using  fertilizers,  and  the  best  fertilizers  for  parh  of  th» 
most  importf  ^t  field,  garden  and  orchard  crops. 
335  PP ILOO 


STANDAIID  BOOKS. 


Gardening:  for  Profit. 


By  Peter  Henderson.    The  standard  work  on  markPt  ttnA 
family  gardening.  The  successful  experience  of  the  autho? 
for  more   than  thirty  years,  and   hs  willingness  t^.ten 
as   he   does   m   this   work,    the   secret   of   his   surcpiV?or 

nformatfon''  Th'e'T'  l"",^'"^  ^""  ^^  ^'^^  ^^"sTvlTuJJe 
12mo  ^   profusely   lllusfated.     Cloth. 


Herbert's  Hints  to  Horse  Keepers. 


By  the  late  Henry   William   Herbert     (Frank   Forester) 
This  Is  one  of  the  best  and  most  popular  works  on  the 
horse  prepared  in  this  country.    A  complet^  manual  fo? 
horsemen   embracing:  How  to  breed  a  horse;  how  to  buy 
a  horse;  how  to  break  a  horse;  how  to  use  a  ho^se    how 

tn^^"^  ^^^'""JT'  ^'"^  ^^  I^'^y^'^  ^  horse  "allopathy  or  ho^ 
moeopathy);  how  to  groom  a  horse;  how  to  dVlve  a  horse" 
how  to  nde  a  horse,  etc.    Beautifully  Illustrated     cJoth. 

•  •  .  .      $1.50 


Barn  Plans  and  Outbuildinrs. 


ua^We\vS?r''fuirof''fdr''\T  "l"«t^a"ons.    A  most  val- 
f-fr  th^  r     '/     ..^^  *"^^^'  *^^"t«'  suggestions,  plans    etc 
?ica  '^?v?ters     fhL?'  ''^'"'  ^"^  outbuildings'^  by  'prac': 

erection  and'  uZ  nfT  ^^^  ^^Y'^^l^  *^  ^^^  economic 
^-t?!     vl  "^^    °^   barns,    grain   barns,    house   barns 

cattle  barns,  sheep  barns,  co^n  houses,  smokf  hoSsef 
Ice  houses,  pig  pens,  granaries,  etc.  There  are  llkewf«fi; 
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